


A Call in the Distance

by Rejah



Category: One Piece
Genre: 300k or more, AU, Action & Romance, M/M, Slow Burn, Winged fic, but it will be worth the wait
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-08-24 22:09:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 40,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16648751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rejah/pseuds/Rejah
Summary: What is the most important thing in life? Sanji thought he knew. Until his world gets shaken up by a winged stranger and he gets drawn into a conflict which has been simmering for centuries. Between trying to escape from the people who want to take his life and defusing an upcoming war he has to overcome his prejudices and learn that nothing he took for granted is true.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The main idea of this story has been sitting in my head since I was a child - it has undergone a lot of transformations since then, but I've always wanted to write it. So, here it is, in the form of a fanfiction.
> 
> This will be long. Let's see how long _exactly_.
> 
> I also have no beta reader. If you know someone who'd like to take on this monster, hit me up. :3
> 
> Enough talk, have fun reading and consider leaving a comment! Constructive criticism is also always welcome.

„I said I wanted my pizza with artichokes! I don’t see any!“

With heavy eyes, Sanji looked up from the pizza dough he was busy kneading. It was a Sunday evening, the pizzeria he worked in twenty hours a week had no free seats left. In front of him stood a customer with an aggravatingly dumb, yet entitled expression, eyebrows drawn together and wildly gesturing towards the plate he was holding.

“I explicitly said that I wanted artichokes on my pizza! I said it to your colleague over there,” he says, pointing at his coworker who was working all tables so it was an unnecessary gesture, really, “but of course she had to mess it up. I demand a new one. And you’ll get it right, capiche?”

Sanji tried not to roundhouse kick the guy out of the pizzeria. He was already having a shitty day, what with his boss at his other work place yelling at him in front of the whole team, and he had known the evening wouldn’t get any better because customers got impatient when they had to wait longer than usual – which was a given, when it was busy like this.

He glanced at the pizza the customer was still holding.

God fucking dammit.

It had fucking artichokes on it.

Sanji stopped kneading. His eyebrow twitching, he pointed a finger at it.

“There are, um,” he tried not to smirk at him, because really, fuck this guy, “artichokes on it.”

The guy looked at his plate, then at Sanji again.

“Are you kidding? There aren’t any!”

“Of course there are! You just have to look at it!”

With that, he pointed straight at one, so the guy couldn’t even miss it. Was he stupid or what? Did he actually not know how artichokes looked like?

“You’ll put some artichokes on my pizza or I will call your boss!” the customer began to shout. It was the final straw, Sanji slammed both of his flour-dusted hands on the counter and leant forward as he shouted right back, “Learn how they fucking look like and I will!”

In the next moment, the customer flung his glass in his direction, the content splashing his face. He sputtered, disgustingly sweet taste suddenly on his tongue and he himself almost over the counter as a hand settled heavily on his shoulder.

His boss was standing directly behind him.

“Go and cool yourself down, boy,” he said gruffly, before ignoring him in favor of the customer.

If there was one thing he hated more than being drenched in cola, it was being called ‘boy’. But he only gritted his teeth, turned on the spot and walked out of the pizzeria.

He stepped out through the backdoor, cold air hitting him in the face like the guys at his stepfather’s restaurant used to do. It was November and it was still getting colder. He stood next to the tall dumpster which was filled with leftovers from the last few days. With quivering hands, he tugged a pack of cigarettes and his lighter out of his pocket, ignoring the disgusting sticky feeling of cola running down his back. He should shower, but he didn’t have enough time to run to his apartment above the pizzeria. The tip of his cigarette caught fire and he stuck it into the corner of his mouth, wrapping one arm around himself and sticking his hand into the warmth of his armpit.

There were sirens in the distance and the sounds of someone fighting somewhere down the street, but he didn’t care as long as it didn’t have anything to do with him. This district had been shit since he’d moved here and probably would be long after he would have moved away. Which was hopefully soon.

He took a drag, staring out into the alley. There was nobody here, but he could hear someone talk in front of the pizzeria and saw the bright lights of the street illuminating the trash cans.

It happened so fast – one moment, he was standing quietly in the corner of the alley, brooding over his life, the next there was something fast and blurry crashing into the dumpster next to him, an insanely loud clang rattling the broken windows on the opposite building. He flinched, dropping his cigarette.

“What the fuck-”

He took a step forward, towards the dumpster, and peered into it.

He could see a pair of legs.

And a hell lot of feathers.

There was no time to react; the legs suddenly began to move, as did the feathers, and someone said something, but he didn’t quite catch it. There was a person in the dumpster. Someone fell from – from where? He looked up to the sky, but there was nothing except broken buildings looming over him and a starless sky. He redirected his attention to the person in the dumpster again.

“Um – can I help you?” he asked. His instincts told him otherwise. He should go back – his boss was surely waiting for him and he could see his paycheck getting thinner by the minute. It wouldn’t be the first time his boss would rake in his tips. Not that there were many to begin with.

The person in the dumpster was still fighting to come out, but he was definitely male. There was an edge of pain in his voice. Sanji hoped that he hadn’t hurt himself, from wherever he had come from so suddenly. In any case, he seemed to have trouble coming out of the dumpster alone.

“Come on, let me help you.”

He had to stand on his tiptoes, even if he was by no means small, and reached for his hand, grabbing it tightly. The guy tensed – yeah, he could understand that, he’d also be stressed if he had landed in a dumpster and someone had witnessed it – but then he grabbed his hand back and pulled. He’s lighter than Sanji had anticipated and for one unsteady second Sanji nearly fell backwards, but then the balance tipped and he pulled and suddenly the guy stumbled out of the dumpster and against his chest. They fell into a heap, smelly trash littering around them, and that’s when he caught sight of the feathers again.

The feathers.

They were attached.

They were attached to his back.

He couldn’t help but stare, mouth falling open. The guy groaned, trying to pick himself up, but suddenly he winced and fell down again, wings and all.

Fucking wings.

He had never seen one of them, but one wing looked all wrong, the angle different than it was supposed to be. He couldn’t see any blood, but it was also a late winter evening and the feathers were dark.

“Hey.” Sanji’s voice wavered, but he slowly raised himself into a stable position and tried to catch a glimpse of the guy’s face. He had short hair and bold eyebrows, but that was all he could see until the guy flinched again. “Hey. Are you hurt? I think you’re hurt. Can you – can you stand up?”

The guy reacted – slowly, but with jerky motions, as if he was trying to hurry but couldn’t. It was then that he finally saw his face – it was broad, twisted with pain, his eyes and teeth clenching together as his wings moved and then stopped. It had to hurt.

The guy tried to stand up, stumbled and crashed into the dumpster again. Sanji scrambled up and was on him in a moment, hesitantly reaching out for him, but the guy flinched back again and actually lunged for him, fist whirring past him only by a few centimeters.

“Fuck, man!” Sanji cursed. He took a few steps back. He might be injured, but he didn’t know what this guy was capable of. There wasn’t much information about his kind, just that they were living on the flying islands above them. He watched how the guy slowly pulled himself up by holding onto the dumpster, his free hand clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. And then he looked up.

Sanji took a deep breath.

There was nothing special about his eyes, but – but they were stingingly clear, bright and full of – something. He couldn’t put a finger on it. It was just there.

“Listen.” He held his hands up, but didn’t come nearer. “I just want to help you.” The guy didn’t answer, but he didn’t seem to be of the talkative kind anyway. Sanji didn’t give up and continued, “You’re injured. Your – your wing is broken, isn’t it? I know a little bit about medicine and stuff, so let me help you?”

There was nothing on the guy’s face. No reaction. No sign that he had understood anything of what he just said.

And then Sanji understood.

Of course, there was no reason they were even speaking the same language. Humans and this kind hadn’t interacted at all for centuries, so of course their languages would be different. Maybe there still were similarities, but it seemed that the differences were still big enough that he wouldn’t understand a word.

Sanji pondered what to do next. He could just go back. The guy was standing in front of the backdoor, but he could just leave the alley and go back in through the front door. He could try and salvage some of his tips, maybe flirt with some of those single ladies that sometimes came into the pizzeria, and try to make some more money.

He could leave him to his own devices.

He noticed the guy’s wing twitching. He had no way back. He couldn’t fly with an injured wing, could he? He was trapped. He didn’t speak the language. And humans had no means to take him back.  
Someone had to do something.

Help him.

He raised his hands slowly, watching the guy observe him vigilantly. First, he pointed at himself, keeping his voice as low and nonthreatening as possible. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He didn’t know which gesture to make, but he tried to anyway, letting both of his hands fall to the side. Then he lifted them again, going as slow as he could, and pointed first at the guy and then at his own shoulders, grimacing as if he were in pain. “You’re hurt,” he repeated, then alternated between pointing his finger at the guy and himself. “I want to help you. Please.”

He didn’t know if it was the Please that finally got through to him, but something did, and the guy’s shoulders visibly relaxed. His injured wing lowered as well, dragging over the ground. Sanji cringed at the thought of it becoming dirty.

“Come on.” He gestured for him to follow him. There was a fire escape he sometimes told his friends to use so they didn’t have to go past his landlord’s apartment and he took the first few steps before he turned around. The guy had moved to the foot of the stairs, but hesitated. Their eyes met. Then the guy followed him again.

He halted in front of the steel door leading to the corridor in front of his apartment. The window next to it belonged to his apartment, the room behind it was dark and deserted. Sanji’s heart was pounding as he was fumbling for his keys. The jingles attracted the guy’s attention and he showed the keys to him – god knew if they had anything like that up there. He spared a last glance at the sky, maybe in the faint hope that somehow another way of helping him would present itself, but the sky remained as dark and empty as it had before. He opened the door.

Behind it, there was an unlit corridor and he moved through it with practiced ease, noticing that the winged guy behind him didn’t need any light either. Okay, slightly creepy. There was another door and a few seconds later he was standing in his small apartment, one room with all of his shit, including a small kitchenette with an almost empty fridge and his bed, only the small windowless bathroom leading from there. Flipping the light on, he turned around and barely caught the guy entering, still hesitant, eyes flitting to and fro while scanning the apartment. Maybe he thought he wanted to lure him into a trap. Well, tough shit, Sanji had neither the energy nor the money for elaborate stuff like that.

“Welcome to my home,” he said, partly because he felt weird not saying anything and partly because he really wanted to welcome him, moving his arm in a wide arc around him – the guy moved faster than he could see and in the next moment, he was crushed against the wall, a hard body pressed against his and a mouthful of feathers. “What-”

He didn’t have the chance to say anymore as the guy pushed his hand on his mouth to keep him from talking – his hands were huge – and hurriedly looked to the door, then to the single window. His breath was going heavy, his temperature running a bit hot and Sanji tried to swallow and found he couldn’t. His heart was beating wildly and he wasn’t getting enough oxygen in his lungs, the crushing hold of the winged guy did nothing against his rising panic. There were black spots at the edge of his vision.

The winged guy opened his mouth.

“You-”

Sanji’s eyes widened. His artery beat against the other’s palm, pulsing so fast he was nearly blacking out.

“You,” the guy repeated and looked straight into his eyes. They were golden, Sanji thought dully, not able to hang onto a thought for more than a moment. Any moment now he would lose consciousness and he feared what would happen then, “Are you a friend?”

Sanji struggled, but the guy was taller than him by nearly a head, and his legs barely met the floor. It took a while for the question to even register in his mind and then he nodded, nearly frantic in his desperate need to breathe – suddenly, the hand over his mouth moved away and then he was standing on his own against the wall before he broke down, legs giving out as he slumped to the floor. They guy sat, too, crossing his legs and staring at him calmly like he hadn’t choked him a few seconds before.

Sanji laid a hand against his mouth. He could still feel the other’s grip on it and he was pretty sure he would have some bruises the next morning. Hell, he hoped his sweet Pudding wouldn’t come to the wrong conclusions.

Taking a few deep breaths – you know, just in case they were rationed now – he tried to calm the racing of his heart and wiped the sweat which had gathered on his brows away. All the while, the guy just watched him. One of his wings was folded on his back, the tip still reaching over his shoulder and head. But the other – Sanji held his breath as he saw it laid out on his dirty floorboards. He hadn’t seen any details in the darkness of the street outside, but now, with the single light-bulb hanging over their heads, he could see its vibrant blue color. It was like an artist had picked the most brilliant blue and splashed it all over it, added a darker tone to the tips and finally glazed it with varnish.

He looked over to the guy’s face again. It was framed by small, soft looking feathers which blended into moss green hair.

“You can speak,” he said belatedly.

“Of course.” He spoke with a heavy dialect, but it was no problem to understand him at all, at least not when they were the only ones sitting in the apartment, the sounds on the street below far away.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner then?”

“I didn’t want to,” the guy said. He didn’t look like he cared that Sanji had basically made a fool out of himself by gesturing wildly a few minutes before. “And I wasn’t sure if you were a friend. Or not.”

“Well, I surely didn’t suddenly slam you into a wall and nearly choked you!”

Crazily enough, he wondered if his landlord had heard all of this commotion. He hoped not, that bastard was already nosy enough.

Sanji stood up. His shirt was still clinging to his back and he wanted nothing more than to finally hit the shower and get clean again. But he had a winged guy in his apartment. He still couldn’t believe it. He turned around again, as if thinking the guy suddenly disappeared, but no – he was still sitting on his floor. His clothes looked like he had sprung out from some kind of medieval movie: Leather pants, a shirt made of some kind of rough material and, surprisingly, no shoes. His feet appeared longer than a human’s, as if they were supposed to grow into an eagle’s claws and stopped mid transformation. A shiver overcame him. From this position he could see the other, uninjured wing more clearly: It wasn’t completely blue like he had assumed. The bottom side was a mix of brown and white, only the edges of the utmost feathers were dipped in light blue.

He’d like to see him fly.

Shaking his head, he coughed slightly.

“So. Is your – is your wing broken or what? I don’t know anything about birds, but that surely has to hurt.”

A crease appeared between the guy’s eyebrows.

“I’m no bird.”

“Whatever you say, bird man.”

The guy looked annoyed, but Sanji didn’t care. He had offered him his home and the first thing he did was choking him until he was nearly unconscious, the least he could do was needling him a bit. He rummaged around in the bottom drawer of the sideboard he had since he was five years old and finally found the med kit between single socks and some other random accumulated stuff.

“It’s not broken. But it hurts.”

Sanji knelt down behind him.

“Let me see.”

To be honest, he was itching to get his hands on those wings for the entire time they had known each other. There wasn’t a lot he knew about his kind, but the vague theories and few lessons he’d had in school about this topic were usually not very positive. The most outrageous story was about them eating human children, but he’d never believed that. But still – there’s an entire other species up there in the clouds, living on islands or something and they knew next to nothing about them. Humans didn’t travel there. They couldn’t, as was stated in the pact from 1154. Or was it 1155? He had never been good in history. Humans weren’t allowed to venture into the sky as long as the winged ones remained in their territory. By now, the pact was over 800 years old and as far as he was aware there had never been any breach of it.

The guy looked tense when he approached his wings. That was understandable. It was an important part of his body after all.

“What’s your name?” he asked belatedly while reaching out for the injured wing. “Mine’s Sanji.”

The winged guy hesitated, then answered, “Zoro.”

Zoro craned his head back to watch what he was doing. Tentatively, Sanji touched his feathers. There was blood matting them and it was dripping down on his floorboards, but they were cheap and shitty anyway, so he didn’t care. He just hoped the stain wouldn’t be too obviously blood because that could raise questions.

“You have a few cuts here,” he said, not touching the wounds directly. Opening the med kit, he picked a roll of bandages, scissors and antibacterial salve out of it. He was far from an expert, but his best friend was a medicine student so he had no choice than learning a thing or two. When he touched the first wound with a cotton swab soaked with alcohol, Zoro winced. “Sorry. I know that hurts, but it’s for your best, alright?” Zoro didn’t give any indication that he’d understood him, but he was also not pinning him to the wall again. So there was that. When Sanji was done cleaning the wounds, he looked at Zoro’s face again and asked, “Can you move your wing at all?”

There was a rustle, then Zoro was moving his injured wing over the floor, but flinched in the next moment. It clearly hurt and Sanji had reached for him before thinking, settling one of his hands on Zoro’s shoulder.

“At least it’s not broken,” he tried to joke. He wouldn’t be able to move it at all otherwise. But the cuts hindered him from moving too much anyway.

It was with a final jolt – like the last nail in a coffin – that Sanji realized Zoro wouldn’t go anywhere for quite some time.

His hands trembled as he bandaged his wing. Luckily, it was only his best friend who came over sometimes, but lately he had been so stressed about his medical studies that maybe he could pull it off. He could just say he wanted to meet him somewhere in the city instead of his apartment. And Pudding came by once a week, but she had been here the day before. She had forgotten her scarf and he’d wanted to use it as an excuse to see her earlier this week. They didn’t have much time together with him working two jobs and her studying international law at the local university.

He wondered if he even had two jobs anymore. His boss would kill him.

Finally, he was done. The adrenaline was fading away at last and he sat down at the opposite wall, exhausted. Zoro watched him silently, golden gaze unreadable. It had to be strange for him to be here. Frightening. Sanji looked back with half closed eyes, suddenly so tired he could easily slip into sleep if his mind wouldn’t replay the last half hour over and over.

“So,” he began as the silence became unbearable, “where did you come from? Why did you fall from the sky?”

Zoro’s face made an unexpected transformation then. He opened his mouth, showing a perfect row of white teeth, his feathers ruffling. He spread the feathers of his left wing. Sanji tensed. He didn’t know what this meant, but it looked intimidating, as if he’d somehow made himself bigger.

Zoro growled, “Teh. Someone made a mistake. They will pay for it.”

A shiver ran down Sanji’s spine. Just what had he been thinking, bringing a possible dangerous winged one into his home? He had enough problems as it was. And now this guy looked as if he wanted to rip every feather out of his enemy. Whoever that was. He supposed he had a fight with one of his kind which resulted in him getting defeated and falling into the dumpster.

Maybe landing there had saved his life. Otherwise, he could easily be just a splash on the ground.

“Okay. Alright.” Sanji tried to play it cool. Animals knew when humans were frightened, didn’t they? And even if Zoro looked more or less human, he wasn’t. Sanji didn’t even know how intelligent he was. He was smarter than the average animal because he was capable of speech – but it was a broken one, just short sentences without much grammar at all. And it seemed they hadn’t evolved much further than fighting with each other. It was a lawless place.

Zoro didn’t belong here.

But he couldn’t just throw him out now. He had bandaged his wound and now he was committed to something before thinking it through. Pudding would say that was typical of him. That it was more trouble than it’s worth.

“I actually gotta go to work,” Sanji said after a while. He had ignored going downstairs again because he was still angry about the customer who hopefully had left by now. He only had two hours of his shift left, but his boss would probably let him clean the entire kitchen alone because of his stunt. He had to leave Zoro alone for that time. What could go wrong, right? He was injured and didn’t know his way around here, so maybe he would just stay still. Zoro looked at him quizzically, tilting his head to the side. Sanji continued, “Um. I work in the pizzeria downstairs. Don’t destroy anything while I’m away, okay?”

He stood up without waiting for verbal confirmation and stepped around the spread wing on the floor.

“I’ll be back in two to three hours!” he called, then left as fast as he can.

It was only when he was halfway down the stairs that he noticed his still racing pulse and the fact that his shirt was still drenched in cola.

* * *

Crawlers were weird.

Zoro watched the closed door for a few minutes more just in case the human came back, but after a while it was clear that he wouldn’t. He had no idea what he had been talking about, but as long as he didn’t come back with guardians he didn’t care.

He stood up, carefully folding his injured wing against his back and then took a look around. So this was where humans lived, huh. How could anyone be happy with a small space like this? When he made two steps in one direction, there was already a wall, cold and white and smelling strongly of something he couldn’t identify. There was a window, but it was small and dirty. He looked through it, but the only thing he could see was the alley where he had fallen down.

It was a disgrace. He had been betrayed by this coward. If it weren’t for his wing, he’d already be soaring up into the sky again and kill him like he deserved. The memory of his fall was still clear in his mind, like the surface of an undisturbed lake. He hadn’t heard him coming. Just pain, sharp like needles branching out through his veins and then a shove – he had fallen down. He’d wanted to spread his wings, but his muscles hadn’t obeyed him. He remembered falling through the clouds and the ground spreading out beneath him and still he had struggled against the numbness in him. Somehow, he had made it. Somehow, he had been able to spread his wings, albeit only enough to slow down his fall. There had been no finesse in it, just a tumbling descent and the air stinging in his eyes.

His stomach growled. It had been two days since he had eaten something and it showed. Maybe Sanji – that had been his name, hadn’t it? - had some food left from his last hunt. He wouldn’t take someone’s provisions normally, but he had no means to hunt at the moment. It shouldn’t be a problem. But where did he store the food? Curious, he stalked through the home.

There were a lot of things he didn’t find familiar, but mostly it really smelled bad. The furniture looked different than he was used to and the content was full of strange gadgets, some of them blinking, some of them with strange black strings attached. No food. He closed the last drawer and spotted a stove. This at least beared a bit resemblance to the one at home. He could see a few bread crumbs on the top, so he moved over and carefully scanned the array of cupboards and strange devices. On the far right, there was a big white cupboard which was steadily humming and curious, he touched it. There was a handle and he opened it and suddenly a cold breeze rushed over him. His eyes widened. It was winter in the cupboard.

And there was fricking food.

* * *

He hadn’t thought it possible, but when Sanji finally returned from his shift, his mood was even worse than before. He hadn’t been surprised that his boss had decided that he wouldn’t get any tips tonight, but he had spent the last two hours serving the last few customers, then tidied up the entire kitchen area including the washer and the greasy oven. His shirt had dried cola on it, his hair was a mess, he was hungry and his mood murderous. He stomped up the staircase.

Hopefully, an easy solution to solve his little problem would present itself soon. Now that he had some time to think about it he knew he was in deep shit. They weren’t exactly at war with the winged ones, but they weren’t on speaking terms either. He didn’t even know of any incidence in which a human like him had any contact with them. This was like a turning point in history and he was part of it. His heart hammering, he halted at the top of the staircase.

Behind that door was a guy with wings. He had talked with him. He could speak his language at least well enough to hold a conversation. And he was frightening as fuck.

Taking a deep breath, he entered his apartment.

He spotted Zoro the second he opened the door – really, he was impossible to miss with his huge wings. He was lying on his stomach, wings folded over his back, cushioning his head with his arms. He wasn’t sleeping, though – in the same moment Sanji took a breath, Zoro opened his eyes and looked directly at him.

Neither of them said a word. Sanji entered, feeling uncomfortable. He could still turn around and call the police. He shouldn’t bother with stuff like this. It wasn’t his job.

But still he closed the door behind himself, feeling trapped as soon as the lock clicked shut, and walked past Zoro to his kitchen as if it was the most normal thing in the world. All he wanted to do after a long day like this was to eat his premade pasta arrabiata and relax on his bed slash mattress.

As he opened the fridge, there was nothing there except for an avocado.

He stared at it.

Then he slowly craned his head around to Zoro, who was still lying flat on the floor, watching him with a bored expression. There was a speck of red sauce on the corner of his mouth.

“Did you eat my food?” The calmness in his voice was barely controlled. Zoro tilted his head.

“Can’t hunt. I’ll make it up to you when my wing’s healed.”

“You fucker!” Sanji erupted, then immediately slapped a hand in front of his mouth – the walls were thin and he didn’t want anyone to knock on his door. “That was all I had in my fridge!”

“I was hungry.”

“Yeah, guess what, me too!” Trembling, he scrubbed his hands through his hair, messing it up even further. Not that it mattered. He didn’t expect any visitors today. Zoro tilted his head, a now nearly familiar gesture which drove Sanji up the wall.

“Why don’t you hunt?” Zoro pointed at his wing. “I can’t hunt now. So you have to.”

Sanji stopped in his tracks. This was so utterly ridiculous, he didn’t even know what to say. Did this bird brain really think that he had hunted for his pasta? A guy like him had probably never tasted something delicious like that when they still hunted like animals up there. He was still feeling jittery, a combination of anger and a whole day without eating much, but he slowly breathed in and out a few times. Then he sat down in front of Zoro and crossed his legs.

“Okay, I’m gonna explain something to you,” he said, staring straight into his eyes. Zoro licked the remaining sauce on his face away. “And you’re gonna listen because I’m not some kind of human teacher, okay?”

Zoro didn’t react, but maybe that was as good as he’d get. Who knew what was going on in his bird brain? He wasn’t even too sure if he had a brain like humans did or a tiny bird one.

“Okay, first lecture,” Sanji began, “humans don’t hunt. I bought the stuff for the pasta at a supermarket, prepared it and put it into the fridge, so I could eat it later. See that clue? I wanted to eat it later. Now I can’t. And I haven’t much money left.”

Zoro blinked at him. It was clear that he hadn’t understood a word he said. Had he spoken too fast?

Stretching one of his wings, Zoro then uttered the devastating question, “What is money?”

Sanji would like to say that his mouth hadn’t fallen open in this moment, but he couldn’t. They stared at each other.

“How do you not know what money is?” Sanji sputtered, gesturing wildly. “Money is everything – you can – you can buy food, and clothes, and I have to pay this shitty apartment with it – wait. You mean you don’t have money up there?”

“So … money is – something you can trade with? Like food?” Zoro asked.

“Well, close enough I guess.” It wasn’t exactly the same, at least not in Sanji’s book. “But it’s more than that. You have to have a job to get money. If you have no job, you have no money. And then you can’t get food.”

“But why don’t you hunt?”

Sanji sighed.

“Humans don’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because-” Sanji halted. Why not? Well, for instance because he didn’t have any idea how to hunt or even where. There was a forest up north and he was pretty sure there had to be deer living in it or something, but he couldn’t just take a rifle – he didn’t have a license – and shoot it. That would be a crime. “It’s not allowed.”

Zoro snorted.

“If someone forbade me to hunt,” he said, “I’d kill him.”

Sanji stared at him.

“Well, we don’t do that here, either.”

Sanji didn’t think Zoro had understood anything of what he’d tried to explain to him. It didn’t matter anyway – fact was that he would go hungry tonight. Maybe he could go downstairs again. With a bit of luck, his boss would still be there and pity him enough to give him a few leftovers from the kitchen.

Zoro ruffled his wings and said, “Humans are stupid.”

“I think you bird people are stupid.”

“I’m not a bird.” Zoro frowned. “I said that. Are you stupid?”

“Then why don’t you have something like money? What, is it still hunting and collecting berries up there? Do you live in caves-” He stopped, shutting his mouth so fast that his teeth clacked together. Zoro had pushed him against the wall and nearly strangled him before. He was dangerous. For a moment, he’d let himself forget that, his anger fueling his carelessness. Zoro didn’t look like he would attack at the moment, but neither did he before. He was fast, even with the injured wing, and a lot stronger than himself. And he was frequently talking about killing like it was something he had done before, like it was something he enjoyed.

He was not a human.

When you didn’t look at the wings, it was easy to forget that.

Sanji stood up. His legs felt heavy after hours of standing.

“I’m gonna go and search for food.”

He didn’t want to turn his back to Zoro, but he did, neck prickling, and walked downstairs.

When he returned to his apartment late in the night, stomach still empty but for a few slices of cheese, he laid down on his mattress and stared at the sleeping form of the winged one for the remainder of the night.

* * *

As far as he was concerned, it was the middle of the night when Zoro suddenly got up and began walking through his apartment. Immediately, Sanji was on high alert, clutching his pillow with both hands. Had the winged guy finally decided to kill him? He kept his eyes closed, hoping that it would go unnoticed that he wasn’t actually asleep, and listened to the faint tap-tap of Zoro’s bare feet and the brush of feathers against the floor. The damn bastard was opening the fridge’s door again. Tough luck – he wouldn’t find anything useful in there. Carefully, he opened one eye to glance at him. Zoro was bending down to look into the fridge, the downy feathers framing his face illuminated by the cold light of the fridge. He was frowning, then suddenly picked up the last remaining item – the avocado – and sniffed it.

Sanji suppressed the urge to laugh. Damn guy had probably never seen something like that in his life. He had no idea what kind of fruit or vegetables they had up there, but surely they couldn’t keep up with the variety of the next supermarket.

Zoro put the avocado back and closed the door, then searched the remaining cupboards. There wasn’t much to find, just a few plates and glasses and the single cooking pot he owned. It was clear that Zoro had no idea that there was a difference between the fridge and the cupboards, Sanji noticed. Finally, Zoro closed the last cupboard and turned around to him, their eyes meeting before Sanji could go back pretending to sleep.

“You haven’t found food?” he asked.

“It’s not like it’s growing outside.”

Zoro frowned.

“It does. At home.”

Sanji rolled his eyes.

“Okay, we grow food somewhere outside, too, but I can’t just take it! I have to pay for it! It just doesn’t work the way you think!”

Scratching his wing, Zoro muttered, “Humans are stupid.”

Sanji didn’t bother with an answer. Instead, he looked at his phone which read in glowing letters that it was only half past 4 am.

“Why the fuck are you awake anyway?”

“’m hungry.”

“Yeah.” With heavy limbs, Sanji got up. He wouldn’t catch any more sleep anyway. “Guess what. Me too.”

“Where are you going?” Zoro asked when he shuffled past him and into the bathroom.

“To work.”

“But you just worked.”

“I have to work a lot!” With that, Sanji put his toothbrush into his mouth and ignored the guy in his living room. It would be a horrible day at his second job. He was dead tired and it would be a few days till his next paycheck. He would have no choice than asking his girlfriend for money and he hated that. Mostly because he hated being in debt to someone in general, but also because he already knew how she’d look at him. With pity. He was sure she wouldn’t waste any time telling her mother, too. He glanced at himself in the mirror. Fuck, there were several dark marks on his neck, just as he had suspected. He’d have to wear a high collar today. Hopefully, Pudding wouldn’t notice them.

After a few more minutes, he splashed his face with cold water and then emerged out of the bathroom. Zoro was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking out of the only window and down to the street. It was still dark outside.

Sanji murmured, “I’m off to work now. Don’t get into trouble.”

Zoro blinked at him, as if he had been in deep thought.

“I’ll wait for you then.”

Sanji blinked. He had expected him to ask him about food once more or some other complaint. Zoro held the eye contact until Sanji looked away.

“Okay,” he said and picked up his jacket and backpack, “I’ll be back in about nine hours.”

The streets were still empty when he stepped outside. The first thing he did was lighting up a cigarette, then he started walking to the bus station, hands inside his pockets. It was freezing. He still couldn’t believe what had happened in the last few hours – maybe when he came back, Zoro would be gone. Searching for food or trying to find help. It wouldn’t be his problem any more.

He stopped at the bus station and looked at the sign indicating when the bus would arrive. He was lucky, as the first bus of the day was due to come in a few minutes and he actually had enough time to finish a second cigarette.

But wouldn’t it be weird if he came back to his apartment this afternoon and found it empty? Of course, he wasn’t responsible for this guy. Maybe it would be better to call someone, the police or animal control or – he didn’t actually know who to call. Would the police even believe him? He’d had trouble with them before. And he didn’t actually want Zoro to roam the streets and get into trouble.

In the distance, he could see the bus driving towards him. Stomping his cigarette out, he fumbled his ticket out of his backpack and stepped forward, waiting for the bus to halt, but then it suddenly rushed past him. He could see the rows of empty seats in it, then only the back of it as it vanished down the street.

“Thanks for nothing, asshole!” he screamed after the bus, but of course it didn’t matter. There was no one around to hear him, it was still dark and cold and when he reached for another cigarette to wait for the next bus he discovered that there were only two left. What a way to start the day.

The next bus arrived half an hour later and thankfully the driver wasn’t an asshole like the other one. Still, Sanji glared at him as he entered and showed him his bus ticket. He walked between the empty seats and stumbled as the bus started up, letting himself plop down on one of them. The dirty windows were crusted with ice, but he ignored the miniature patterns of ice crystals in favor of staring out on the streets passing by. The first few shops were being prepared to open, lights flickering on, and when he arrived at his destination twenty minutes later, there was already a trickle of other people on the streets.

He slipped his card through the slit at the terminal, ignoring the gatekeeper. The walk over the company grounds took another five minutes, then he opened the door to the building his current office was at. He’d only had this job for about six weeks, but he already hated it.

“Mornin’,” he grumbled at his colleague who was already there and only got a nod in return. Not that he actually gave a shit whether he got properly greeted or not. He was only the intern, after all. When he had applied for an internship at this place, he’d had held the hope to actually learn something, but he was only doing the shitty work no one liked to do as well as brewing a shit ton of coffee. That, and it seemed like everyone thought they were way smarter than him.

The computer hummed while it was booting up and he shuffled through the papers he had left here the day before, trying to get some sense of order into it. There were moments he didn’t even know where his head stood, rows over rows of numbers blurring into each other until he didn’t even know what was two plus two. He wasn’t even that bad at math, he was capable of doing most of the work he got ordered to do. But it wasn’t any fun. He felt like an ant in a giant colony, scrabbling around the dirt until he got squashed.

The monitor lit up. Quickly, he typed his username and password into it and opened his mail. It took a moment, then suddenly a stack of new emails were popping up, some of them marked as ‘urgent’. Urgent his ass. He once got an email like that which was about brewing coffee for the head of the department.

“I sent you an email yesterday,” his coworker suddenly spoke up. Sanji looked around his monitor to glance at him – his coworker was half hidden behind his own stack of papers, but he knew he was slow as a snail and half of that stuff was only to create the illusion that he was working. His ash blonde hair was thinning, but he still thought he was the greatest stallion in the shack. He wasn’t even looking at him when he spoke further, “Did you read it?”

He’d just arrived five minutes ago, how the fuck should he already have read it?

“Not yet.” Sanji tried to keep his voice calm. He needed this internship. Not only for the credit points for business school, but also for the money. Quickly, he scrolled through the mails to find the one his coworker sent him. At 9:23 pm. What the fuck. It was about an evaluation of customers which he’d begun to work on last week, but hadn’t had the time to finish because the head of the department had another task assigned to him. “Sorry, I haven’t finished it yet. But I’m gonna do it today.”

His coworker clicked his tongue, finally glancing over at him.

“That’s a bit late, don’t you think? I told you to do it last week.”

“I know.” You cunt, Sanji thought, but of course didn’t say that out loud. “But Miss Charlotte had another urgent task for me.”

His coworker rolled his eyes.

“You have to work faster if you want to make it in this company, you know.”

With that, he looked at his monitor again, clicking away on his mouse. Sanji bet on today’s salary that he was playing solitaire.

The first hours of the day dragged themselves as slowly as honey from a spoon. Sanji gave his best, finished the task his colleague had assigned him and received a curt nod for his efforts. He worked himself through the other emails and tasks, sometimes glancing at the stack of papers to his left which he didn’t have time to touch since he’d arrived. His workload never eased, but still, when midday rolled around and he left the office for the first time since this morning, he felt like he had nothing accomplished at all.

It wasn’t for the first time that he thought this was more because of the nature of his tasks than because of his working speed.

The cafeteria was on the top of the building. It was still early, so it wasn’t as bustling with the other ants as it could be, but it still took a few minutes until he was able to spot the caramel brown of his girlfriend’s hair. With long strides, he walked over to her, tipping her on the shoulder from behind.

She whirled around, obviously startled.

“Sanji!” she exclaimed. “You surprised me. Where did you come from all of a sudden?”

Sanji smiled at her. Seeing her was the first good thing that had happened to him all day. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid his eyes upon: Her hair was a light brown and slightly curled, her eyes nearly the same shade. He had often told her it looked like molten caramel, even though she always swatted his arm and tried to deny his compliments. He knew she liked being complimented, though, because she always tried to hide her blush afterwards.

“I’m sorry, Pudding, I didn’t want to startle you.” He hugged her shortly. Her small frame fit perfectly between his arms and he wished he could take her home this night. “Have you already decided what you want to eat?”

Together, they browsed the cafeteria and finally sat down with their tablets. Sanji immediately began to eat; he was starved after the long day he had the day before as well as having nothing left to eat after that wing guy had raided his fridge.

His fork rattled against the table as he let it fall.

Damn. He didn’t like to keep secrets from Pudding, but it wasn’t as if he could tell her something like that.

“Are you okay?” Pudding frowned while delicately spearing up a leaf of her salad.

“Yeah, sure. I’m just a bit stressed.”

“Are your colleagues mean to you again?”

Sanji shrugged.

“Not more than usual,” he said and cringed when he heard the sound of his own voice. He didn’t want to complain to her. She had her own plate of problems and as a man, he shouldn’t burden her with his own ones. He should be the pillar she could lean on, not the other way around. “But I’ve got it under control.”

Pudding nodded and then changed topics.

“At what time are you free today?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe four pm? I began early today.” He was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to finish all his tasks until then, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to work much longer than that anyway. Pudding clasped her hands together, smiling at him.

“That’s perfect! Then we can go to the café I told you about!”

Sanji’s smile wavered.

“Actually, I probably won’t make it today,” he said, trying to hold her gaze as she pouted. “I have to take another shift at Luigi’s and still have to study for the exam. It’s on Friday.”  
“But I really wanted to go there with you.” Pudding frowned. “Can’t you change your shift?”

He didn’t actually have a shift this afternoon, but Pudding wouldn’t accept it if he just came up with the excuse of having to study. It wouldn’t have been the first time he had ditched studying for spending time with her.

“Sorry, you know I need the money.”

Fuck, he didn’t have the heart to ask her for some money. Maybe he could hold out until his next paycheck. Pudding sighed.

“I’m glad when you’ll finally have your degree and come work here for real.”

“Yeah, me too.” He smiled at her and laid his hand on top of hers. “Then we can spend more time together.”

Even though he tried for sincerity in his voice, he dreaded the day he would pass his final exam. His job here at the company was more or less secure, but the thought on working a job like this for the rest of his life or even just the next few years twisted his gut. He’d only begun this kind of work because he knew he could make a lot of money with it – which he needed desperately after moving out two years ago.

Still, he stroked his thumb over Pudding’s hand one more time and then stood up.

“I have to go back,” he said as he stretched and took both of their tablets. He had a lot to do if he wanted to clock out at a decent time. “I’ll call you when I leave work.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> High above the clouds, Zoro's best friend worries and takes matters into his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! As I said, it takes some time. The last few weeks have been crazy. I'm in my final week at my current job and I finally managed to get a new one starting next year which will allow me to work fewer hours. Good for me - also good for you, my readers, because I'll have more time to write! :3  
> Let's get started!

Usopp was worried.

That in itself was nothing new; he was a worrywart, a low-class, a coward. But his best friend still hadn’t come back from talking with their verdugt, the leader of their clan. He worried about him, and not only since last night when he had last seen him. For the last few months, Zoro had frequently gone to Mihawk in preparation of succeeding him, sometimes coming back deep in thought, sometimes with fresh wounds. He would never talk about it and Usopp never asked.

He would always meet up with him the next day, though. Usopp couldn’t remember a day having passed without them seeing each other since their childhood. Something felt deeply wrong.

But his friend was strong. The strongest, that was why Mihawk had cast an eye on him. Still, he couldn’t help but worry as he dangled his feet over the edge of the island. The clouds were particularly dense today, so he couldn’t make out anything from the land stretched out beneath him. In the distance, he saw a shadow moving in the clouds. Maybe it was the whale which had been flying around the island for the last few days. He wondered if it had lost its way, same as Zoro.

Another shadow emerged from beneath the whale and he squinted as he tried to make out who it was. It was too far away, though and whoever it was, was moving too quickly. He grabbed his goggles and held them in front of his face. The shadow was nearing rapidly and soon he could make out the fast flutter of wings. After a while, he caught a flash of red and sighed as he recognized his other friend.

Luffy’s landings were never graceful and so he landed in a tumble, blowing up dirt as he crashed next to him, gray wings fluttering wildly as if he had forgotten to pull them in. He grinned, dusting himself off and finally folded them on his back, red tail feathers nearly brushing against the grass growing over the island’s edge.

“Here ya are!” he exclaimed, voice too loud as usual. Usopp set his goggles down. Luffy frowned as he saw the look on his face. “What are ya so gloomy about?”

Usopp gnawed on his lip. Maybe Zoro had just gotten into trouble again, just like in the past. But maybe Luffy knew something. He asked him, “Have you seen Zoro?”

Luffy took a moment to think, then erupted again, “Zoro? Nah, I’ve no idea where he is! Why? Did ya want to test some of your crazy inventions again?”

“No, I just haven’t seen him all day.”

Luffy let himself fall next to him, dangerously near to the edge. Not that it mattered when you were such a talented flier.

“Maybe he’s doing something really awesome with Mihawk!”

“Yeah, maybe.” Usopp watched the whale again. It’s movements were slow and unhurried. It didn’t have to worry about anything; no natural predators, not up here in the sky, and enough krill to stuff itself full. “But usually, he isn’t away for such a long time. What if something happened to him?”

Luffy laughed.

“It’s Zoro, remember? He’s strong. Nothing can hurt him.”

Usopp hoped he was right. But still, his gut feeling said otherwise.

“I guess I’m worrying about nothing,” he said, more to calm himself than to calm Luffy. Another thought occurred to him. “Want to take a look at my project?”

“Is it still your fake wings?” Luffy stretched his own wings as he stood up. Usopp nodded, even if he preferred the term ‘glider’ over Luffy’s one. No one he has talked to about this particular invention had understood why he was working on it. Luffy frowned. “Nah, I’ll pass then. I’ve no problems flying on my own, see?”

With that, he let himself fall off the edge without even spreading his wings. A shock went through Usopp’s body; he would never let himself fall like that, even though Luffy had plenty of time to catch himself and raise up again. Just as he had finished the thought, Luffy shot through the clouds and past him, laughing like a maniac. He was magnificent like this. Usopp couldn’t help but think that if it weren’t for Zoro, Luffy would be the next successor. Well, and if his brain was anything as chiseled as his flying prowess.

Luffy circled over his head and he sighed. Usopp bent his knees and jumped into the air; a gust of wind caught beneath his wings and he flapped them as hard as he could to gain height. From here, he could nearly see the entire island and the hint of the island which was nearing theirs at the moment. The wind was strongly blowing from the east. The windmills which were strewn around the island and were their main source of power were spinning fast. He brushed a stray dreadlock aside. In a few weeks, the island in the distance would have drifted off again.

“See?” Luffy glided next to him and put his hands behind his head. He had to shout because of the wind. “Flying is easy! If ya wouldn’t spend so much time on the ground, you’d be better at it, too!”

Choosing not to say anything in response to that, Usopp caught a gust of wind to ride on it. It was much easier to remain in the air when you utilized the air currents instead of blindly trusting your muscle power. He didn’t have a lot of strength anyway. He was better at using his mind, but most people didn’t care about that. Of course, being stupid wasn’t deemed a virtue, but most people would rather have a strong and stupid leader than a physically weak one whose only trait was his outstanding intelligence.

Not that he’d want to be a leader. That simply wasn’t his cup of tea.

Luffy was circling him again. His movements were much more elegant than his own and he knew that he could probably remain in the air for the rest of the day.

“Wanna fly over to the other island?” Luffy shouted in his ear. “Maybe you’ll find someone nice there!”

He waggled his eyebrows, as if that somehow would make a convincing argument.

“Sorry, but I still have to work!” Usopp shouted back. Already, he was descending, flapping hard with his wings so he wouldn’t crash too hard on the ground. As his feet touched the ground, he dug his toes into the grass. His heart was beating a mile a minute. He looked up, saw Luffy flying far above him and waving at him. Then he flew off. Probably to that island.

For the most time, each island drifted alone through the clouds, so it was a rare occurrence to see one up so close. It was also a rare opportunity to get familiar with the other clans and maybe get some private time with one or two of them.

Usopp watched him until he disappeared behind a cloud, then turned around and slowly made his way to his den. It wasn’t much by _Vaengur_ standard, but it was his. He opened the wooden door and ducked his head as he entered. His den was round, like most _Vaengur_ preferred them to be, with a high ceiling and a lot of small, equally round windows. It was dark because he had kept his windows closed with the wooden shutters to keep out curious eyes. His place was cluttered with his tools and materials he needed both for his occupation and for building his inventions and he followed the trail of screws and wood pins to the back entrance.

His den was part of a circle of a couple of other ones, all fitted together to form a more or less large space in the middle of them. One of his neighbors was sitting next to his own den and preening his feathers. When he saw him approaching, he got up and left.

Usopp ignored him because he caught sight of his glider and his eyes widened. The day before, he had spent hours and hours on it, had readjusted the clamps of the wings, exchanged some of the main construction for lighter materials and recalculated the total weight.

Now there was a giant rip in one of the wings.

He hurried towards it. Brushing his finger over it, he examined the rip. It was possible that it had been an accident, his neighbor’s children were often playing here and some of them were at that age where they were more rowdy than considerate of other’s belongings. Maybe he would be able to sew it shut, but he’d rather not send the glider on its maiden flight damaged. It would be better to exchange the wing entirely. The problem was that it was made from an especially thin leather and Usopp didn’t really have any goods to trade to get his hands on any more of that.

It seemed he’d have to delay the first flight once more and get some other work done first.

He sank down on the ground and leant his back against the den’s outer wall, raking a hand through his dreads. He had worked so hard and for what? Whoever had done this had no idea how much work he had destroyed with just a single slash. Or maybe they hadn’t cared.

He thumped his head against the wall and closed his eyes briefly. The sun shone brightly through his closed eyelids. Then he got up.

He went back into his den and scanned the items lying around. If he remembered correctly, he still had an order from someone about repairing their bow. It wasn’t a lot of work, but he’d delayed it first in favor of working on his own project and then because he had been worried about Zoro.

“Now where is it?” he mumbled. He really should tidy up. It was something he’d told himself for years.

Finally, he found the bow leaning against the wall, which seemed glaringly obvious now that he’d found it. The bowstring had ripped and also inflicted a cut on the upper part of the bow. He had to fix the string and also repair the cut. Honestly, it wasn’t that difficult. The guy who had give him this could have easily fixed it himself if he bothered to learn how to do it. But of course, the guardians were to high and mighty to spend their time with something like that.

After he had found another string, he got to work. He was quick and soon the bow looked as good as new and he left his den to deliver it to his customer.

It was nearing evening and the sun had long since sunken behind the horizon. Usopp’s goggles enabled him to see, though, and he quietly walked between clusters of dens to the bigger ones which had been built on one of the towering trees. They looked like mushrooms growing out of the bark. It was where the guardians resided. It was also Zoro’s home. He couldn’t help but hope that he would just fly out from behind one of the dens and greet him. Other than on the rest of the island, it was loud here: Several small groups of guardians were sitting around a fire at the foot of the tree and passing a bottle of something around. It was probably something alcoholic and he began to make a wide berth around them until he saw his customer in the crowd. Damn, that was just his luck.

Steeling himself, he walked over to him, bow in hand. They noticed him quickly, their senses not having dulled even though they were very obviously drunk.

“Are you lost?” one of them called. “This is the guardian’s den!”

“I know.” He didn’t say more. All of the guardians were strong, but not all of them were intelligent. If you’d ask him, a lot of them had only joined the guardians so they could get more easily into scuffles. He caught the eyes of his customer who was leaning with his back against the outer wall of the big den. He was a mountain of a man, dark brown wings a good deal longer than his own ones. He didn’t seem to be sober, too, but Usopp just had to get his payment and then get out of here.

“Here’s your bow,” he said quietly.

“About time,” the other said, grabbing the bow forcefully out of his hand. It was so fast that Usopp nearly cut himself on the newly attached string, but thankfully he managed to jerk his hand away quickly enough.

“My apologies. Now, we agreed on-”

“I don’t care what we agreed on! You’re way too late in your delivery to get anything now!”

Usopp took a step back.

“But I – I repaired your bow! You didn’t even need it for the last few days! There wasn’t any fight on the island!”

“Just get lost, before I decide to try it out on you.” The guardian was smirking at him while his fingers stroked the freshly polished wood of his bow.

Breathing harshly, Usopp calculated the situation. He was surrounded by guardians, most of them on their way to get drunk and each of them armed with either bow or spear. He knew that the other was in the wrong, but what could he do? They wouldn’t seriously harm him, but they’d probably rough him up a bit if he didn’t run off while he still could. With a shudder, he remembered the last time – they’d pulled his feathers until he was sore, let him fly a short distance in the air, only to crash into him and making him fall again. He could still feel the pain when he thought about it.

But he really needed this payment.

“Please listen to me, I-”

He yelped – someone had pulled on one of his tail feathers. The guardians began to laugh. Usopp blushed down to the roots of his feathers. This was reserved for other activities; you just didn’t touch tail feathers out of fun. He turned around, trying to find the culprit, but there was a whole group sitting in front of him now. Had there been this many of them a minute ago? Again, a sharp pain shot through his spine. He turned and whirled around and tried to protect his feathers, but it was a lost cause and he could feel his feathers getting ripped and snapped off. The pain was pushing tears into his eyes.

“Stop immediately!”

Usopp froze.

So did the guardians. They ceased to pull at his feathers, but the pain still lingered.

Another guardian had stepped out of one of the dens and Usopp immediately recognized him. How could he not? It was Law, probably one of the most renowned _Vaengur_ of this island and also the leader of the _Verndari_ , the guardians. Even if someone wasn’t familiar with him – an impossible feat in a small community like theirs – his rank and occupation was clear from his clothes and the massively long spear he is holding. He was taller than most _Vaengur_ , easily towering over Usopp as well as the rest of the guardians.

Law looked like he had bitten into something sour. His eyes cast a depreciating look on the crowd in front of him and then caught on Usopp.

“What is your business here?” he asked.

Slowly, Usopp folded his wings flat against his back. Most of the guardians had become quiet when Law had appeared, but some of them began to chuckle.

“I repaired a bow and brought it here.” He could tell Law that he had been duped of his payment and he would probably get it, too. But he would never be able to set a foot in the guardian’s den again. Considering that they were one of his best customers, he simply couldn’t afford that. He lowered his gaze. “I was just about to go.”

There was a moment of silence.

“And what about your payment? Surely you didn’t trade your services for nothing.”

Usopp opened his mouth, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. He didn’t want to lie about not receiving anything in return, but if he didn’t say anything, wasn’t that like accusing the others of stealing from him?

“You!” Law grabbed the guardian he’d given the bow to. The guardian paled and nearly let his bow fall down. Law easily lifted him off the ground, so his feet were dangling in the air. “You’ll give him what you both agreed on! I don’t want that kind of dishonorable behavior, understood?”

The guardian ground his teeth, but shouted, “Understood!”

Law let him free and the guardian hastily run into the den to retrieve the items they agreed on. Usopp didn’t dare to look up. He knew that everyone was staring at him and waited for an opportunity to continue picking at his feathers.

After a few more minutes, the guardian returned and pushed the item into his hands. Usopp bowed before Law and then hurriedly turned around. He just wanted to get out of here and spend a few quiet hours on his inventions.

“Not so fast.” Law’s voice was as sharp as his spear. Swallowing, Usopp looked over his shoulder, but didn’t meet his eyes. “Follow me.” He went to the foot of the stairwell which wound itself around the massive tree trunk. Usopp had no choice but to follow him.

It became increasingly darker the higher they climbed. Law didn’t bother with the lights installed on the bark as they ventured deeper into the canopy’s maze-like structure. Usopp had only been here for a handful of times. Now he was stumbling after Law. His wings were charcoal black, paling into gray where they sprouted from his proud back, muscles moving as he turned around a corner.

Finally, they arrived at their destination. With a drop in his stomach, Usopp realized that these were Law’s private quarters. He had never been here. Curious, he looked around: The den didn’t look too different from his own as there was a lot of stuff strewn around it. But rather than tools and materials to repair and construct, there were several spears leaning against one wall, a sharpening knife next to them, some polished and shiny stones in another corner, seemingly not for another purpose other than looking pretty. With a blush, he noticed a bunch of feathers of various colors. None of them were black.

“It’s lucky you’ve come here. I have something for you,” Law ripped him out of his thoughts. Usopp’s brain short-circuited; for a short moment, he had thought of something entirely else, but then he looked at what Law was holding out to him: It was some kind of machine with little blades on top of it, almost like petals from a metal flower, silver wiring connecting here and there. There was a small wickerwork box attached to it. He had never seen something like it. “I want you to repair it,” Law said. Usopp had never realized just how tall he was. He glanced back up at Law, then carefully took the machine in his own hands, examining it closer. One of the blades was broken.

Suddenly, a wire came off and the whole thing fell apart, the junction of the blades with the rest of the machine broke off and fell to the ground.

“Oh shit! I didn’t mean to do that-”

“Stop blabbering,” Law interrupted him and picked up the blades. “As you can see, it’s broken. Can you repair something like that?”

Usopp held the contraption in front of his face.

“I can try,” he said. “I’ve never seen something like this, though. But if you give me some time-”

“I want you to make this your top priority,” Law said. “I don’t care what you’re working on at the moment. This is more important than anything else. I’ll give you anything you want in return.”

Usopp’s eyes widened.

“A-Anything?”

Law didn’t respond. Usopp became giddy – he didn’t know why this thing was so important to someone as high-ranking as the leader of the guardians, but he was happy to help with something more difficult for a change. Plus, it was a good trade. Probably the best he had in a while.

“Can you tell me what it’s for?” Usopp asked, holding the machine into the faint light. “It’d be easier for me to repair it if I knew what the final result should be.”

“It’s none of your business what it’s for,” Law said, eyes narrowing. “Can you repair it now or can you not?”

Usopp blinked up at him. This didn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t he tell him? He could make a few guesses as for what the machine was for, but it would certainly be easier if Law simply told him. Unless-

“There’s something else,” Law said. “You will tell no one of this trade. Understood? No one. You won’t let anyone see this, you won’t tell anyone of this.”

Usopp’s feathers bristled. There was always a catch, of course there was. But he couldn’t tell him no. He needed this trade to be able to get the materials for his glider. He also didn’t know what would happen if he declined. If he was understanding this correctly, and this was some kind of secret, Law just took a risk in showing him that thing. He didn’t know what he’d do if he refused. But he wouldn’t do something to his own people.

Or would he?

All of a sudden, he felt cold. He nodded.

“I understand.”

Law assessed him with a cold look.

“Good.”

They were standing in front of each other, not saying anything. Was he supposed to go now? He couldn’t walk out with this thing in his hands, though. The others would see.

“Here.” Law wrapped the contraption in a thin cloth. It clinkered around in it, but no one would see what he was carrying this way. “Now go. And only contact me when you’re done.”

“What if someone asks about this?” Usopp held the baggage in front of his face. “What should I tell them?”

“There’s no way out of here without being seen.” If it was possible, Law’s face looked even more sour. “I’ll escort you out.”

With that, he turned around and exited his room without bothering to wait for him. Usopp threw a last glance around the den before he hurried after him. He probably wouldn’t have a second chance to see it from the inside. Law was already several feet in front of him and Usopp had to break out into a small run to catch up with him.

They passed several other dens which were just a tad smaller than Law’s had been, but otherwise they looked exactly the same. Guardians were mingling here and there. Protectively, Usopp held the bundle with the contraption closer to his body. He hoped nothing would fall out. Zoro’s room was a few steps from here.

Why had he only thought about his best friend just now? It was the ideal situation to ask someone about him who actually could know what was going on. The only downside was that he’d rather jump off the island backwards than talk to someone as scary as the leader of the guardians.

But if someone knew about Zoro, it was Law for sure.

He shouldn’t be a coward. Even if he knew it was to no avail. His hands began to tremble. The bundle was threatening to fall out of his arms.

“Do you- Do you know where Zoro is?” he blurted out. Law halted.

“I don’t see how that is any of your business.”

“I-I-I’m his f-friend,” Usopp insisted and balled his fists. Damn, his stutter was coming back. He was shivering like a leaf. He hated baring his weakness like this in front of someone like Law, but he couldn’t help it anymore. From this answer alone it was clear that Law knew something and just didn’t want to tell him.

“Lots of people are. Now do what I told you to do!”

Usopp ground his feet into the wood of the branch. His words seemed to be stuck in his throat and he blinked rapidly as he pressed them out, “N-Not before you tell me what’s going on. Is he in any d-danger?”

Law narrowed his eyes and suddenly he was in his face and a dagger he hadn’t even known Law had was held against his throat.

“Don’t stick your long nose into things you don’t understand. You won’t be able to change anything, so just go and do what you’re good at.” With that, he pushed him away and Usopp stumbled a few steps back until his shoulders hit the trunk. Law was standing in the middle of the branch, his wings partly raised.

Usopp opened his mouth, tried to say something – and fled.

He scrambled up, careful not to destroy the machine Law gave him anymore than it already was, and ran over the broad branches. There were even more guardians out here, eating and drinking to their heart's content, and Usopp ran and jumped and desperately flapped his wings to gain height. He could hear the guardians laughing at his pitiful flying, but then he crossed the den cluster and flew higher and higher. Soon, both the guardians and the cluster were only a tiny splotch of color against the darkness of the night. He cradled the machine in his arms. The wind was ripping and pulling on his wings and his tail feathers still hurt from the bullying earlier.

But he had made it.

And now he knew that his worry hadn’t been without reason.

He was back in his own den a few minutes later, carefully landing in the inner circle. Cradling the machine in his arms, he opened his door and walked in while igniting the lights. He brushed the mess on the floor aside with his feet, then sat down in the middle of the room, set the machine on the newly acquired space and stared at it.

He had never seen anything like this before. But now, taking a closer look at it and without the impeding nervousness of someone watching him, he could easily guess what it was for. After all, he was building something similar.

It was a machine meant for flying. Of course, it wouldn’t lift an entire person. It was much too small for that purpose. But it could carry something in that small box attached to it. What exactly remained a mystery to him, though, as well as the way it knew where to fly to – his own invention had to have a pilot in it, someone who was leaning themselves into the wind, steering left and right, up and down. Just like any _Vaengur_ did. But this machine hadn’t anything like that. Was it just supposed to be lifted into the air and hopefully reach its destination? Usopp doubted that.

There was also another question burning in his mind: What use had Law for it?

He wasn’t stupid. It was a secret alright. Law had pulled him aside so no one could listen in and he was pretty sure that he’d pluck every feather out of him if he’d tell anyone at all. His feathers twinged in sympathy. So even someone like Law had secrets. Ones that he didn’t want the other guardians to know.

He peered closer, moving the remaining blades attached to the top. They began to rotate, but then suddenly the entire thing fell off. Usopp winced. Way to go.

He could repair anything, though. He could build everything he had set his mind to, it was his one redeeming quality. He could think about the reasons Law possessed this later.

* * *

The sun was up and shining into the small den, the warm rays tickling Usopp’s nose. Slowly, he woke, his eyes bleary. Something hard was pressing into his cheek and he pushed himself up. He fell asleep while working on Law’s machine. His place was a mess, even more so than usual. He had tried to get it working again, but there were some funny looking wires which had sparked when he had tried to connect them. He had concentrated on repairing the essential parts then, like the blades and the box attached to it. It was to heavy in his opinion, so he wanted to see if he could find something lighter for it today.

He pulled his hair back and looped a worn leather band around it, took a short sniff of his armpits and decided to go for a wash at the basin. He couldn’t visit his friend if he reeked like oil and sweat.

He managed to take a quick dip in the communal basin near the center of the island without getting noticed. After all, it was still early and he could make do without any snide comments. Afterwards, he flew the short distance to his friend. She lived in a quite big den next to the harvesting forest, together with the caretakers and the youngest children. Most of them were already up, the children playing in front of the den, the older ones flying around the trees that surrounded the area. He had done the same, when he had been raised here.

One of the kids noticed him and he grinned at him. The kid stuck his tongue out. Usopp ignored him and knocked on the door. There was rustling, than a quiet voice telling him to enter.

Kaya was sitting up in her nest. He had brought her a new pillow just last week, on which he had stitched a picture of her favorite flowers.

“You’re here early,” she greeted him, her voice quiet and a bit sore.

“I missed you,” Usopp said without a hitch. He crossed the distance with two steps and sunk down next to her bedding. “Is your voice still not getting any better?”

“I’m afraid not.” Kaya smiled. Immediately, Usopp felt warmth enveloping him. She was simply beautiful with her flaxen hair and light gray wings. He took her hand into his, rubbing it slightly between his palms to get them warm. She’d had always cold hands and feet. Kaya let him and asked, “Do you have any new stories for me?”

“Of course!” Usopp straightened his back. “A busy man like me always does! There’s just so much happening at once, I don’t even know where to start!”

Kaya giggled, but then she coughed, her thin frame doubling over with the force of it. Usopp quickly grabbed the water which was standing next to her nest and handed it to her. As soon as the coughs subsided, she took a sip, then sagged back into the pillows. Sweat had pooled on her brow. Usopp brushed it away.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It seems I’m not feeling very well today.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Usopp hid his face while he put the water away. It had almost always been like this. They had grown up together right here with the other children. They had played tag together, running through the forest and around the den, always faster than the caretakers’ hands who had tried to grab them.

But then Kaya had fallen ill. It had been a slow process. When he had made it to the top of the trees for the first time, she hadn’t even managed to raise from the ground, much less to fly even a single round. They didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was just weak, the caretakers said. Nowadays, she spent most of her times in her nest, watching the kids outside play or retelling them the stories Usopp told her when he visited.

“So, what news do you bring me today?” Kaya asked with her faint voice. Normally, her voice reminded him of wind chimes, but she had caught a cold two weeks ago and still hadn’t recovered. He remembered the flying whale he had seen the day before and decided to start his tale with that.

“Just yesterday, while I was out to see to the safety of our clan, I saw a flying whale close to our island,” he began. “But it wasn’t just any whale, you see, but the legendary one.”

“There is a legendary one?” Kaya asked, her eyes gradually widening.

“But of course!” Usopp exclaimed. Conspiratorial, he leaned closer. “Not many people know of it, but surely you can keep a secret to yourself?” He waited for her nod, accompanied by a small giggle. “Legend tells that it’s the oldest whale that has ever lived. Some even say that all whales are descended from this one, and if you’d have seen what I saw, you’d believe it too. Its skin was the purest white I’d ever seen. The sun was glistening on its back. I could barely look at it. Brave as I am, I flew close to it until I looked straight into its eyes.” He paused from dramatic effect. “And in that moment, when this ancient being and I looked at each other,” he leans closer, his forearms resting on Kaya’s bedding, “it told me a secret.”

Kaya seemed to be entranced by his story, her eyes wide and one of her hands lifted to her mouth.

“What secret?” she asked. Usopp leaned back, grinning at her.

“I can’t tell you that, I’m afraid.”

Kaya pouted.

“Oh, please? I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”

Pretending that he had to think about it, Usopp stroked his chin. A few seconds passed in which Kaya looked at him pleadingly.

“Alright.” Leaning forward again, he formed his hands in front of his mouth and whispered in her ear, “it told me that the most beautiful woman dwells on this island. You know who that woman is?”

Kaya sighed. She leaned back against her pillow, her small hands folded in her lap.

“No, I don’t,” she murmured.

“It told me that her hair was the color of fresh wheat and her wings the color of the moon.” Usopp smiled at her. He knew she didn’t like compliments like this, but he just couldn’t help himself. “But you know what her most beautiful trait was? Her kindness.”

At that, Kaya smiled. Her eyes flicked up to him and for a moment, all was well, the two of them grinning at each other. Then something crashed against the outside of the den, followed by a child’s roaring laughter. Kaya’s gaze flickered to the small window to her right, worry etched on her face.

“They won’t hurt themselves,” Usopp reassured her. “They’re kids. They play. Maybe they’ll get a scratch or two, but the caretakers will make sure they won’t fly too high.”

“I know, it’s just … I worry. I asked Zuzy to let me sit in front of the den, so I could watch the children, but she wouldn’t let me.”

“It’s a bit windy out there. She had probably only your health in mind.”

“I can bundle myself up,” Kaya protested.

“It’s nearly winter.”

“Usopp.” She looked at him with a frown. “I already know that. Can’t you just play along? Say that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about?”

Usopp huffed.

“Maybe she overdoes it a bit. Actually, the sun was really warm today. Maybe we can try it tomorrow? I’ll wrap you in the thickest blanket I can find and then you can sit outside for a while.”

“I’d like that.”

He noticed her shivering.

“Are you cold?”

Kaya glanced away.

“Maybe a tiny bit.”

“Wait, I’ll get you something.”

He stuck his head out of the door of her room to ask Zuzy, the woman who was mainly responsible for Kaya’s well-being, for tea. Then he rummaged around in the cupboard standing in the corner in search for a blanket.

Suddenly Kaya exclaimed, “What happened to you feathers?”

Usopp hunched his shoulders, caught.

“Ah, they’re just a bit ruffled from the flight-”

“No, they’re broken off.”

Usopp sighed. He rummaged around until he found a thick, well-worn blanket which he folded around Kaya’s shoulders, rubbing them carefully.

“I had a delivery to the guardians. There was a minor disagreement.”

“You mean they teased you. Again.”

“You make it sound like it’s the most horrible thing that has ever happened to me.”

“It’s not. But still,” she glowered, “they’re mean.”

“I can handle them.” Or at least, Law had handled them in this case. He wasn’t sure what would have happened if he hadn’t appeared when he had. They wouldn’t have harmed him seriously, but still so much that he would have felt their ripping hands a few days later.

“I wish you wouldn’t need to. What were you fighting about, anyway?”

Observant as ever. Zuzy came in and put a pot of tea next to them on the floor. Usopp used this moment so search for words.

“I was just a bit late with the delivery. Nothing too bad. But you know how they are.” He shrugs. “It’s not like they’re really upset about something like that, they’re just searching for reasons to get their hands dirty.”

“Does it hurt?”

He shook his head. It hurt a bit, but he wouldn’t tell her that. She shouldn’t worry about him, if she had so much to worry about herself. But that’s how she was – always looking out for others, for him, for the children. Sometimes he thought she didn’t care about her own health at all.

To his luck, she actually believed him. He poured her a cup of tea and blew the steam off it until it was cool enough, then carefully handed it to her. Together, they sat and talked for a while until the sun set. Usopp didn’t tell her of his worries about Zoro. She was easily excitable and he didn’t want to worsen her condition.

Some time later, Zuzy shooed him out of the room. He waved Kaya goodbye and left, his mood lifted up. The trees were already throwing long shadows on the grass. The days were already short and the nights cold and he rubbed at his arms to keep warm. He hoped that wherever Zoro was, he was safe and warm. He tilted his head back and blinked at the sky, ruffling his wings. There was no way Zoro would be safe – he would already be back if all was well. He hadn’t even left a message behind and that in itself was sign enough that something was off.

And Law seemed to have known something. But Usopp wouldn’t be able to get any information out of him. He was nothing in Law’s eyes, just the guy who repaired their spears and bows, and if he returned to him to squeeze information out of him, there was no knowing what he would do to him. Usopp shuddered. If Law hadn’t needed him for his weird machine, he probably wouldn’t even have bothered with helping him.

He had a chance to get the information he needed, though. And for that, he needed Luffy.

Flapping his wings, he cursed as he felt the accompanying twinge in his lower back. He was still hurting, but who knew how bad off Zoro was? He jumped, his wings pulling at his muscles, and gained height painfully slow, taking off into the approaching night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usopp is one of my favorite One Piece characters. He's just such a sweet darling :3  
> Please don't hesitate to comment. Constructive criticism is also always welcome.  
> (I still don't have a beta *sigh*)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanji struggles with keeping his secret.

The rest of the day passed slowly because Sanji kept glancing at the clock on his monitor. Finally, it was five p.m. and he left while waving at his colleague who asked where he was going already. Fucking workaholic. He managed to catch the bus just in time. When the bus set off, he dialed Pudding’s number, but she wasn’t picking up. Hopefully, she’d see the missed call soon enough.

He drove past his usual stop. He was so tired his eyes were threatening to fall shut, but there was still so much to do. Firstly, he really had to prepare for his exam. Secondly, he worried about a bird guy possibly having wrecked his home, but before he could go home and check on him he actually had something else to do. A few stops later, he arrived at the local hospital and hopped out the bus. His best friend was working here and he desperately needed his help. Of course he couldn’t tell him the truth. Not because he didn’t trust him, but because it was too easy for someone to overhear. He also didn’t want to burden him with a secret like this.

The hospital floors were bustling with activity, but fortunately he knew in which department Chopper was interning at the moment and quickly followed the signs to the children’s ward. A nurse looked at him suspiciously. No wonder – he was too young to be a father, so it wasn’t likely he had any business here. Still, she didn’t stop him and after a few minutes, he managed to locate Chopper just as he emerged out of a patient’s room.

Sanji called his name. Chopper halted, then noticed him and waved at him, surprised.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, looking up at him. He was still young, turning nineteen this fall, but he was the smartest guy Sanji had ever met and had practically raced through high school and now university, making him one of the youngest doctors soon to be in the world. Sanji still couldn’t believe he knew someone like him.

“What’s up, buddy?” he said, ignoring his question. “Lot of work?”

Chopper huffed. His brown curls were tamed with a bunch of hair clips, making the dent in his frail professional aura even bigger. He looked like a kid, even younger than his nineteen years. The white coat didn’t help at all as it was a size too big for him and he needed to roll up his sleeves. He had often complained to Sanji about not being taken seriously by both patients and colleagues.

“Of course it’s a lot of work. But I like it here,” he said, smiling indulgently at two children walking past them. “But you seem distressed. So spit it out, what have you done this time?”

Sanji grimaced. Damn, he knew him too well.

“I need your help. It’s important.”

Immediately, Chopper looked him up and down as if searching for injury.

“What’s wrong?” he finally asked.

“I – um – what do you do when a bird has injured its wing?”

Chopper frowned.

“Well, if it’s broken-”

“It’s not broken.”

Chopper hesitated, looking at him in confusion.

“In that case, you should keep it warm and bring it to a vet.”

Sanji wrung his hands.

“Ah – is there nothing I can do myself? Like – should I ice the wing? Or stabilize it somehow?”

“I doubt any bird will let you do that properly.” Chopper fumbled with his clipboard. “Look, I don’t have much time. If you came all the way here, it’s likely that the bird will already be dead. They don’t deal well with injuries. The only thing I can tell you is to bring it to a vet.”

While Zoro was no bird in the actual sense, Chopper’s words still let panic rise in his chest. He swallowed hard and tried again, “B-But what about the costs? You know I don’t have enough to pay a vet. But I want to help hi- it.”

“I know it sounds harsh, but in that case you should kill it,” Chopper said matter-of-factly. Of course, being a doctor had hardened him, as patients tended to die quite frequently. “But I have the impression that you’re not telling me everything. Am I right?”

Sanji looked to the side. Of course, Chopper wasn’t just smart, but also very observant. Already, he could feel the secret slipping from his tongue.

“I’m about to tell you some really weird shit,” he said. “But not here.”

Chopper rolled his eyes, as if to say ‘Into what kind of trouble have you brought yourself this time?’, but then indicated him to follow him. He ushered him into an empty office, then closed the door behind them, crossed his arms and put on a serious face. It looked ridiculous on his young features, but Sanji knew better than to underestimate him.

“I don’t know how to start,” Sanji said. He began to pace the office. It probably belonged to one of the doctors here, so it was likely they didn’t have much time. The computer was still on and a bunch of letters and other paperwork was lying on the desk.

“How about the beginning?”

“Yeah. Right. So,” he took a deep breath, “I – uh – kinda met someone.”

Chopper immediately lightened up.

“Really? Does that mean you’ll finally leave your girlfriend?”

“What? No!” Sanji looked at him shocked. “That’s not what I meant. And we’ve already had that discussion. I don’t want to leave her, for fucks sake. I love her!” Chopper opened his mouth, but Sanji interrupted him, “It’s not – not like that. He’s a – I mean, I met a winged one?”

He was saying it as if he couldn’t believe it himself. Chopper’s eyes grew big, making him look much younger than he already was, and he fell silent. His arms went slack, the folder he had been holding toppled to the floor.

“A winged one?” he finally repeated. “But how?”

“Actually, he fell down right in front of me. And he’s injured.”

“So that’s why you asked,” Chopper immediately caught on. Sanji nodded.

“He’s fallen from the sky for some reason. I disinfected his wing and bandaged it, but it doesn’t seem to be broken. But I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or if he will steal from my fridge again or if I should call the police or-”

“Sanji, Sanji, wait!” Chopper put a hand on his arm. “First of all: Don’t call the police.” Something in the seriousness of his voice let Sanji hesitate.

“Why not?” he asked. “Wouldn’t that be the sensible thing to do?”

“I’m not sure ...” Chopper trailed off. Sharply, he looked up at him. “Can I meet him?”

“I’m not sure if he would like that. He’s kinda … primitive?” And violent, he thought, but he didn’t want to frighten Chopper. Or make him think that he was in some kind of danger.

“You know you’re not making a good case for yourself, don’t you?”

“I can handle him. I’m not defenseless.”

“Taking a few classes in martial arts doesn’t make you another Bruce Lee,” Chopper said disapprovingly.

“I took those classes for nearly ten years.”

“But this was, what, four years ago?” Chopper’s eyes looked treacherously wet. He was a crybaby, even though he didn’t want anyone to know. But Sanji had known him since childhood. “He could be dangerous, for all you know. I don’t want to insinuate that he’s a bad person, but please be careful.”

“I am,” Sanji said. “And as soon as he’s able to fly again, I’ll take him somewhere where he can fly off without being seen.”

“How do you think you’ll manage that? You have no car. Don’t tell me you want to take the bus to drive outside the city.”

“I’ll think of something. Don’t worry.” He thought for a moment. “Anyway, how about I take some pics of his injured wing? Maybe you can help without actually going near him.”

Chopper nodded.

“Okay.”

A few minutes later, Sanji left the hospital again with a few more promises to remain careful and call Chopper if he had the slightest problems. As soon as he was out of the hospital, he stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lighted it, quickly sucking it down to a stump. He entered the bus and sat down in the last row. It was raining again. The raindrops whipped against the muggy window pane, but he was deep in thought. Chopper hadn’t exactly been helpful, but he supposed few people could help with a problem like that. His medicine studies probably didn’t cover winged ones.

It was relieving to have someone else who knew of this secret he had, though. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and his mood lightened. He could do it. Zoro would heal in no time and then he wouldn’t ever have to see him again.

He couldn’t allow himself to think of Zoro as a person, though. It was easy to forget. He talked like a normal human, even if he was a bit taciturn and had a heavy accent. Even in his mind, he thought of him as Zoro, not as ‘the winged one who had barged into his life without knocking’ - when had that happened? But he was not a human being. He was not a person. He had to remind himself of that fact.

Even Chopper had walked into that trap. Saying that he didn’t want to imply that he was a bad person when he wasn’t a person at all. Sanji wasn’t sure in which category winged ones fell. But surely they were closer to animals than human beings? Like apes, to which humans were related, too, but nothing more. They were capable of speech, so they had to be intelligent, but not as intelligent as humans.

He left the bus at his usual stop and quickly hopped into the local supermarket. The content of his wallet looked pitiful, but it was enough for some essentials.

His stomach felt tight as he ascended the stairs to his apartment, carrying a small back with groceries he had managed to buy from the last few pennies in his wallet. He tried to move as silently as possible so his landlord wouldn’t hear him and when he arrived at his door, he pressed his ear against it. No sound could be heard, though.

Straightening his shoulders, he shoved the key into the keyhole and opened the door.

Zoro was lying in the middle of the room, wings curled around him. He blinked owlishly as Sanji entered and quickly closed the door behind him.

“You’re late,” was the first thing he said. Then his eyes fell on the paper bag in Sanji’s hand. “Food?”

Of course he would focus on that. Sanji sighed, then nodded. “Yes, it’s food. But it’s mine! I’ll give you something, but you have to ask first, okay?”

Zoro had already begun to stand up, but sat down as he heard this. He licked his lips.

“So. Can I have food?”

Dumb bird brain.

“Yes. You can. But I have to cook it first.”

It was nothing much. He had bought the cheapest food items he could: potatoes, some eggs and milk and some carrots. He still had a few days left until payday, so he had to improvise. Zoro stepped up behind him and glanced over his shoulder.

“What is that?” he asked, pointing at the potatoes. Sanji looked at him incredulously.

“Um … potatoes?”

Zoro looked confused. Didn’t they have those where he came from? It seemed they didn’t.

“They’re good,” Sanji said. Zoro was a bit closer to him than he liked. “And cheap.”

Zoro blinked, then suddenly his entire face lit up and he grinned as he said, “Ah. Money.”

He said it like he had just remembered a particularly difficult concept and Sanji rolled his eyes. “Yeah, money. I have to buy cheap food because I don’t have enough if I don’t. And now bugger off, you’re making me nervous.”

He was also still reeking like trash, but Sanji was too tired to fight that battle at the moment. He doubted they had showers up there. Would he really have to show Zoro how to use one? Not to mention the costs of someone else using up his hot water.

Zoro made a step back as Sanji began to peel the potatoes and carrots, throwing them into a pot of boiling water when he was finished. Still, he watched Sanji as if he had something weird on his face, hovering just nearby.

“No meat?” he finally said.

“It’s expensive.” Zoro actually had the guts to pout, sticking his bottom lip out. Sanji would call it cute if he didn’t know that this guy could kill him easily if he wanted to. That was the only reason he added, “Sorry.”

Zoro tilted his head, looking contemplative. Then finally, he said, “You’re poor.”

Sanji gritted his teeth. It wasn’t like he didn’t know it, no need to rub it in.

“Yeah. Great deduction.”

The meal was nearly finished by now and Sanji pulled two plates and two forks out of his cupboard. There was no need to be fancy, so he just drained the excess water from the pot, mixed some salt and pepper in it and put two portions of the potato and carrot mix onto the plates. Zoro took the plate willingly, but screwed up his nose when he looked at the stew.

“Eat it or leave it,” Sanji told him as he walked past him and sat down at the low table. The food was good enough for its cost and he quickly devoured over half of the portion without even glancing at Zoro. This day had been horrible and it was only Monday. His gut twisted at the thought that he still had to work the rest of the week. Finally, he slowed down. He didn’t want to give himself a stomach ache. Zoro had also begun to eat.

Fuck. He couldn’t afford a second mouth to feed with his meager salary.

“So, what do you think? When will you be able to return to your people?”

Zoro just shrugged.

“Dunno. I’ve never hurt my wing like that.”

“But how about an estimate? A few days? Or weeks?” He hoped it wasn’t weeks. He couldn’t afford that and the risk of someone finding out would just increase over time. But Zoro just shrugged again, as if he didn’t care. Sanji could feel his patience wearing thin. That was why he stopped talking completely, opting to just finish his food and then got down to studying statistics. He heard Zoro put the plate down and froze as he walked over to him and leant down with his head tilted.

“You’re sad. Why?”

What the fuck. He wasn’t here to talk about his problems with a winged one, not at least with one who had attacked and nearly choked him.

“I’m not sad,” he said.

Zoro’s eyes widened as he answered, “Liar!”

“So what? I’m lying all the time.” To Pudding. To his coworkers or his fellow students. He reclined back in his chair as if that pose could somehow make him appear more relaxed than he really was. “It’s no big deal. And I don’t want to talk about it.”

Zoro screwed his nose up.

“Lies are bad. Why are you sad?”

Sanji set his plate forcefully down.

“Maybe because I have yet another problem with you appearing like that!” he snarled. “Have you ever thought about that? You’ve come here, live in my house, eat my food and attack me! Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I’m not happy with that? It’s hard enough even without you coming into my life. I’ve barely any money left. But you don’t care, don’t you? It’s so easy up there, isn’t it? You just go and hunt, right? No need for money or laws or anything!”

Zoro stared at him wide-eyed. Sanji was breathing heavily, he felt like he had just run a marathon. Slowly, dread set in as he realized what he had just thrown at the other’s head.

“We have laws,” Zoro then said stupidly. “But they aren’t as dumb as yours.”

It was the most infuriating sentence he had heard coming out of his mouth and it had to be something like that. Sanji saw red. He set the plate down and jumped up, planting himself in front of him. He was almost a head taller than him, but he didn’t care anymore. It wasn’t as if he was completely helpless. Before Zoro could react, Sanji had already grabbed his arm, pushed his chest backwards with his other hand, and pulled. He was way lighter than he looked like and Zoro toppled over, yelping in surprise as he crashed to the floor, Sanji on top of him. He didn’t give him any chance to fight back, instead sitting right between his wings and straddling his back, his legs like a vice around his torso while Zoro struggled and hissed as he brushed his injured wing.

He should have called the police from the start. This guy was way too much trouble.

Zoro stilled. It was most likely that he only did so as not to aggravate his hurting wing anymore. Sanji didn’t relent, though. He wasn’t so stupid.

Zoro’s breathing was calm as he asked, “What do you plan to do?”

Sanji opened his mouth, but nothing came out. To be honest, he didn’t know. Sure, he had just thought about calling the police, but if he did that he also had to explain why he had taken this guy in in the first place. And he really didn’t want to go through the whole process of letting himself be interrogated by them. It’s not like those officers were all good guys.

The best solution would be for Zoro to go back to his people.

Zoro clenched his teeth and hissed. He was holding his wing weirdly, partly splayed out over the floor. It was obvious that he was in pain. Sanji’s grip lessened a bit.

In the next second, Zoro threw him off and Sanji fell on his back. Before he could move, Zoro was already on top of him and slammed a hand against his throat, making him gag. Stars appeared in front of his eyes and his legs gave out while Zoro grabbed him and shoved him face first on the floor, pushing his arms behind his back until it hurt. His other hand grabbed a fistful of Sanji’s hair and mashed his nose against the hard tiles. Sanji struggled, but Zoro only forced his arms higher and blinding pain shot through him.

“Stop, stop!” Sanji kicked with his legs, but of course it didn’t work. Zoro was sitting on his back, making it hard to breath and finally, he relented and slackened so Zoro wouldn’t break his arms.

“You fine now?” Zoro asked. Sanji couldn’t really turn his face around, but he growled.

“I wouldn’t call that fine,” he said cockily. “You can let me go now, I won’t attack you.”

Zoro snorted. His grip was like steel.

“No. I don’t trust you.”

Sanji tried to get out of his grip, but to no avail. From the couch, his phone began to ring, but he ignored it.

“Fuck you!” he spat. Zoro’s grip hardened. “I could have left you there easily, but I didn’t! And how do you thank me? By raiding my fridge and attacking me! You don’t give a fuck, do you?”

“So why save me?” Zoro asked. His face was blank. Sanji halted.

He could have saved himself all the trouble if he’d simply done the sensible thing and turned his back on him. But of course he had to take a look. He could have still left him there, could have gone up to his apartment alone, changed his clothes and got back to work. Instead, he had helped him out of the dumpster, went out of his way to communicate with him and patch him up.

The phone kept ringing. He knew exactly who it was because he had assigned different ringtones to each of his few contacts in there, but he really didn’t have a chance to answer his girlfriend right now.

Exhausted, he ceased to struggle.

“I don’t know,” he murmured, trying to recall last night. “I thought you needed help.”

“I did,” Zoro said surprisingly. “And I’m thankful.”

Sanji didn’t believe him for one second and opened his mouth, but right at that moment there was a knock on the window. He froze, as did Zoro. Only two people he knew knocked on his window instead of his door, avoiding his landlord like he told them to do, and neither of them were a good option right now. The knock came again, more insistent, this time accompanied by a female voice.

Fuck. It was Pudding.

He would have loved for her to come over tonight, even if he still had some learning to do. Not that he was accomplishing a lot on that front at the moment. Zoro grabbed his hair tighter again and leant down to him to whisper in his ear.

“Who is that?”

“As if I’ll tell you!”

Zoro pulled his arms even higher on his back and Sanji yelped.

“Sanji?” The voice was muffled, but the window wasn’t isolated very well, so he could hear her well enough. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

“Who’s that?” Zoro asked again.

“My girlfriend,” Sanji hissed back as quietly as he could. Zoro frowned.

“Your what?”

Pudding knocked again.

“Sorry, my darling!” Sanji managed to say even though he wasn’t getting enough air at the moment. Hopefully he sounded normal enough. “I just got out of the shower!”

There was a moment of silence, then Pudding asked, “Are you alone? I could hear someone speaking.”

God fucking dammit. Struggling, Sanji managed to turn his head and glare at the winged guy, whispering through clenched teeth, “I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

“As if you could.” Zoro pulled his head up by his hair. “Tell her to leave.”

“I can’t do that! She’s my girlfriend!”

Zoro furrowed his eyebrows. The knocking stopped and Sanji heard her stomp down the stairs. She was definitely angry with him, but at least she was leaving. Who knew what Zoro would do to her. He had shown that he could be violent if it fit his own interests, so Sanji would rather have her out of his reach.

Zoro looked up, listening to her stomping up the stairs in the house and Sanji used that second of inattentiveness to brace his legs against the floor and throw him off in one swift movement. Zoro was quick and his elbow hit him in the face as he fell down, the two of them rolling over the floor before Sanji shoved his knee on Zoro’s injured wing, right where it sprouted from behind his back. Zoro screamed, but Sanji was quick to muffle it with a pillow. He leant close.

“Listen, buddy. You don’t want her to find you – just do what I say and hide in the bathroom!” He had no time to reassure himself if Zoro would actually listen to him, just trusting his gut as he got up and brushed the dirt from his trousers. “Hurry!”

Zoro scrambled up, his feathers ruffled and eyes wild and for a moment, Sanji thought he would just stand there until she was here – but then he turned on the spot and made a dash to the bathroom, pulling the door closed and even locking the door from inside. Sanji breathed a sigh of relief.

Seconds later, the door to his apartment opened. Pudding stood in the doorframe, trembling, her hands balled into fists.

“Why didn’t you open your window?” she exclaimed. “You were the one who told me I shouldn’t take your front door because of your landlord! And then you just ignore me?”

“I’m sorry,” were the first words that tumbled out of his mouth. “Please let me explain.”

Pudding didn’t come in. She looked beautiful, even when her face was getting redder by the minute.

“I’m not sure if I want to hear your excuses.” With that, she turned around on the spot and hurried down the hallway. Sanji made a split-second decision, looked to the bathroom where Zoro was hiding, then at the open door, then he jumped up and ran after her.

He caught her on the top step, grabbed her arm and she whirled around, tears in her eyes.

“Please don’t run away!” he urged her. She struggled for just a second, then finally relented.

“You’re hurting me!” she said. Sanji let her arm go. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Sanji swallowed. Pudding readjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder. “Why didn’t you open the window?”

Another door opened and his landlord stuck his head out.

“What’s all that noise about?” he shouted. Fuck – his own door was still open and if his landlord made just a few steps out of his flat he could look into it without any problems. Pleadingly, he glanced at Pudding, hoping she’d understand. He didn’t want to bring her into his apartment while Zoro was still there, but neither did he want to leave Zoro alone nor try to come up with an excuse for Pudding while they were still in the corridor.

“Sorry,” he called out to his landlord, feeling not sorry at all, and gently took Pudding’s hand. She resisted, bracing her little pumps-clad feet against the floor. All too much aware that his landlord was still watching him, Sanji placed himself in front of her and laid his hands on her shoulders. He was a head or so taller than her, even with her pumps, and she had to look up to him. A fact she’d never liked at all. “Please,” he repeated, “don’t run away. I was just … studying for my exam, you know? I didn’t hear you on your first knock.”

His landlord snorted.

“Cheated on ya, that guy, huh?” he muttered, coming to the wrong conclusions. “I always knew that guy won’t amount to nothing. Can’t pay his rent on time, always coming home at late hours, it’s no wonder he can’t even keep his girl happy!”

Sanji gritted his teeth. He told himself that it didn’t matter what his landlord thought of him as long as he didn’t kick him out. The apartment was cheap, at least in comparison to the other ones in the city, and it was conveniently located. He couldn’t afford to lose it. As much as he couldn’t afford to hide someone like Zoro there, but that was water run down the river.

Pudding didn’t say anything. Instead, she glanced at his landlord, then at his still open door. Then finally, she nodded. Sanji let her go and instead slung an arm around her shoulders.

The landlord’s glare followed him until they made it to the doorstep. Zoro was still nowhere in sight. They stepped through and Sanji closed the door with a bit more vigor than usual. He was glad that he actually had some papers for University lying around, otherwise it would have been very obvious that he’d lied to her. Trying not to avoid the bathroom door to obviously, he ushered her to sit down on the couch. He stiffened as he caught sight of a single feather on the cushion and hurriedly sat down on it. Pudding frowned.

“So, would you like a drink?” he asked, his voice a tad too high. He shoved his hands beneath his legs, trying to grab the feather. Where was it?

“I’m really not in the mood for that now, Sanji.” Pudding glanced at his notes, then leaned forward and picked it up. “Statistics? Are you getting better in it?”

“I won’t ever be good in it,” Sanji said, scratching his head. He was dumb as hell in statistics. “But I’m slowly getting better. Chopper is helping me, you know.”

“That young medicine student? Why is he good in this when he’s studying medicine?”

Sanji shrugged his shoulders. There – finally, his fingers brushed against the feather. He balled his hand around it and stuffed it into his pants without her noticing.

“He’s just smart. Like, really, really smart.”

Pudding huffed, “I wish I could have it as easy as him. But wait, don’t change the subject!”

“Sorry.”

“So, you didn’t hear me because you were learning?” she repeated his blatant lie. “Am I supposed to believe that?”

“What else would I do?” Shit, this was the paved way to hell. Another line sounding like a cheating man and he’d soon be without a girlfriend. Okay, not that it would ever come to that. They had been dating for years. “I swear. I was just trying to get these formulas, see?”

Pudding narrowed her eyes at him. Sanji shuffled closer to her, at least as close as he dared to when she was in this mood.

“You’re not believing my landlord, are you? I’d never do something like that to any woman, least of all you. I love you. With all my heart. Why would I want anyone else?”

Pudding’s shoulders sagged and she visibly softened.

“You scared me there,” she admitted, her voice tinier than before. That was the Pudding he loved, the soft woman sitting in front of him, her pouty lips just begging to be kissed. Sanji leaned forward to do just that, but Pudding held a hand between them.

“I’m not in the mood for that now,” she said and adjusted her purse on her shoulder. “I think I’ll go now. Call me tomorrow when you’re at work.”

Sanji nodded, keeping his eyes down. On the one hand, it was better if she left before she noticed that someone was in his bathroom. On the other hand, he felt that she was still a bit mad at him and he’d have liked to make it up to her. He walked her out of his apartment and watched her go down the stairs. From the small window embedded in the wall, Sanji saw her hurry down the street, her caramel hair flowing in the icy breeze. A car pulled up and someone stepped out into the cold to hold the door open for her. A few moments later, the car drove off.

He closed the window and returned to his flat. Zoro was already lying on the couch again, carefully pulling at his feathers.

“What are you doing?” he asked him.

“Preening.” Zoro was as mono-syllabic as always.

Sanji had no idea what that meant, but he didn’t want to know, either. It was only eight p.m., but he still decided to go to sleep. There was no way he would get any studying done now anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm still alive. University has been exhausting, but now the exams are over for a while and I had time to write.  
> In this chapter, we learned a bit about the relationships Sanji has. I'd really like to know what ya'll think about both Chopper and Pudding. (I love Chopper, isn't he adorable? :3)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro is homesick, but there is nothing Sanji can do against that - right?

Zoro had only been here for two days and already knew one thing for sure: Humans were astoundingly stupid. As far as he understood it, the human who had helped him was poor – he didn’t have a lot of food, was too afraid to go hunting and his occupation didn’t fit him well. But still, he had his own wash basin as if he was of a higher standing. Humans just didn’t make sense.

“See, here’s the shower head.” Sanji pointed at a metal construction which was fastened to the wall. “You have to turn the tap here, and-”

Zoro had already blocked him out. This was a weird room. Of course, he had already been in here, but it still baffled him why anyone would decorate their den with shining squares. At least they had facilities to take a piss in as well as running water, but it was a waste to have an entire room to wash yourself in without sharing it with anyone.

“Hey! Did you listen to me?”

Zoro turned around to him, his face clearly betraying that he hadn’t, in fact, listened to him and didn’t really care about it anyway. Without looking at what he was doing, he grabbed the device mounted to the wall – the shower head, as Sanji had called it – and turned it on. Water hit him straight in the face. He sputtered and tried to push it away, his hands scrambling to find the way to stop it while Sanji began to laugh hysterically.

At that, Zoro grabbed Sanji’s neck and pulled him into the shower. Sanji sputtered, trying to escape him, but Zoro held him against the wall until both their clothes were soaked.

“Fuck- What are you-” Sanji struggled and Zoro grinned, finally releasing him. Sanji jumped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and furiously began to dry himself off. “You think this is funny?”

“I do,” Zoro said and began to peel himself out of his pants. Sanji raised his hands.

“Woah, hey, can’t you at least wait until I’m out of here?”

Zoro frowned.

“Why?”

Sanji rubbed the towel over his head.

“Because I don’t want to see you naked, maybe?”

“Why?” Zoro asked again. Sanji stared at him.

“It’s-” he began, then stopped and put a hand against his mouth. The shower was still running, but Zoro didn’t move. He was wet anyway, so there was no harm in it. He didn’t really understand what went through Sanji’s head, though. Sanji began to gesticulate wildly. “Ah, I get it now. It’s because we’re both men, isn’t it? So you think there’s no reason to be embarrassed, same stuff and everything.”

Zoro pulled his pants down and shrugged out of his shirt while Sanji kept his eyes on anything but him.

“Why would I be embarrassed?”

Sanji blinked at him.

“Because you’re … naked?”

“So? I have nothing to be ashamed of.” Zoro grinned at him and flung his clothes out of the shower. He grabbed one of the bottles Sanji had shown him earlier and began to wash himself. All in all, it didn’t feel too different from home.

“It’s not-” Sanji wrung his hands. “It’s not that important, I guess. Just don’t let your clothes drop outside of the bathroom, okay?”

He left, still dripping wet. Zoro stood under the spray of water and wondered why the hell humans had to complicate everything.

* * *

It was Thursday. The week had progressed without any major incidents, for which Sanji was grateful. That still didn’t make his week any more bearable – his tasks just seemed to stack on each other, his colleague was a prick as always and Pudding bombarded him with calls and emails during his working hours. Of course, he was happy to receive so much attention from her, but is distracted him. He wasn’t able to concentrate at all.

Another email notification popped up. He had around forty other unread mails sitting in his inbox, but he immediately clicked on this one because it was from his sweetheart. It read: ‘Hey sweetie, let’s meet up for lunch at 12, kay?’ He frowned. The day before, she had told him that she wouldn’t have time for him today because she would meet her mother during lunch. Also, he had his weekly meeting at one and still hadn’t finished preparing his part, but he quickly sent her an affirmation. He would just have to work harder for the next few hours.

Shortly before twelve, he hurried down to the cafeteria. She was already there. He kissed her on the cheek.

“How was your day so far?” he asked her while they were getting their food.

“Terrible! Mom canceled lunch with me only this morning. She has no time for me at the moment.” She pouted. Sanji spotted a pair of free seats and hurried to them before they were taken by someone else. “I’ve no idea what she’s up to. I think she is working on a new project, but she won’t tell me anything.”

“Maybe she wants to surprise you.”

Pudding glared at him over her salad.

“You know I hate surprises.”

Sanji knew that all too well. Pudding looked at him contemplatively.

“Has anything happened?” she asked.

Sanji didn’t want to lie to her. After their bumpy beginning, Zoro was actually behaving himself. He still ate a lot and there were way too much feathers lying around his apartment. Sanji had been collecting them in a plastic bag, not daring to throw them away where anyone could see. He still didn’t talk a lot, but when he did, he always asked the most weird questions. What was this thing he talked into (his phone)? Why was this cupboard so cold (that was his fridge)? Why didn’t he do something else if he hated his work so much (because of money, duh)? Zoro hadn’t understood the answer to this last question, even when Sanji had patiently tried to explain it to him a few times. Money, and the need to have it, seemed to be such a foreign concept to him that he wasn’t able to grasp it.

He had also only barely digested Zoro stripping in front of him the evening before without any care in the world. He hadn’t looked. He hadn’t seen anything. Well, except that he had and now he wanted to burn his retinas off, even though that wouldn’t help at all because the image had burned itself into his mind.

“Just a bit of stress lately. You don’t need to worry about me, I can handle it,” Sanji said. Zoro’s injury was healing; he’d probably be able to release him into the wilderness soon. He had to grin at that. The image of Zoro being released like a formerly injured bird was both so wrong but oddly fitting that he nearly snorted with laughter. Pudding looked at him weirdly.

“I hope you can. You know that you can talk to me about anything.”

“There’s no need to, really.”

She looked like she didn’t believe him. Sanji was intimately familiar with the signs: Her small nose scrunched up and her eyes fixated on him. But then, to his luck, she let the matter rest.

She said, “Do you have anything planned for this afternoon? I thought about going to that little café.”

He hadn’t planned anything per se, but he had told Zoro this morning before going to work that he would come back later with fresh groceries. He hadn’t told him the exact time he would be back, but he had returned around the same time for the whole week now, only leaving for an evening shift at Luigi’s twice. He was pretty sure Zoro had his clock figured out by now and would wonder where he was.

His hesitance let the sour expression on Pudding’s face reappear.

“What is it now? Do you have any other plans?”

“Not really, but-”

“Then it’s a date!” She clasped her hands together. “Let’s meet at the gate at 4 p.m.. It’s your treat!”

Sanji smiled. She just looked too cute when she was so happy. Zoro would have to wait.

* * *

A few hours later, he met her at the gate. As they walked to her car, he took her hand in his. It felt so small in his hand, her fingers long and her nails manicured. Everything about her was frail and delicate, but he knew she was strong. She was already studying for her masters and would soon take a leading position in her mother’s company. He knew that she wouldn’t have as much time for him as she had now, so he had to spend as much time with her now as he could.

They had known each other for over seven years now and were a couple for five. If he had the money for it, he would have already proposed to her. Hopefully, he would be able to do that once he finished his own studies and got a well-paying job.

They arrived at the café and Sanji let himself be dragged to a nice little table with a flower vase on top of it. After both of them ordered something, Sanji grasped her hand in his and kissed it, making her giggle.

“I’m really happy that we went here today,” he told her.

“I adore this café,” Pudding agreed. “It’s so cute, isn’t it? And I heard that those little cakes are to die for. I guess I can eat one today even though I have to watch my waistline.”

“You’re perfect the way you are, my darling.” Sanji couldn’t see what she meant when she talked about her weight. She went to the gym two or three times a week and meticulously paid attention to her weight. A few pounds here or there wouldn’t do her any harm. “I’d love you even if you gained weight.”

Pudding pulled her hand away and glared at him. Sanji didn’t reach out for her again.

“How can you say that? You know – you know how my mother looks like, don’t you? I have bad genes. I have to be extra careful.”

Sanji winced. It was true, her mother was more on the chubby side, to put it lightly, and her persona was frightening as well. He couldn’t picture his sweet Pudding to be anything like her.

“Don’t worry, you won’t. I just wanted to tell you that I’ll love you no matter what.”

Pudding sighed, “That’s sweet of you.”

Their order came, two coffees and two of those cakes Pudding was so keen on. They talked about work and the progress of both of their studies.

“Do you think the workers would accept me as their head of department? I’m not sure,” Pudding mused. Sanji knew exactly what she meant. Her mother was the CEO of a gigantic metalware corporation and all of her five children worked in the same company. Pudding was the youngest. She always worried about being not good enough, even though she was perfect. But everyone’s high demands of her kept undermining her self-esteem.

“Don’t worry,” Sanji told her, laying his hand on hers again. “You’re good at what you do. Way better than I could ever be.”

Pudding furrowed her eyebrows.

“How can you be so sure of that? You’ve just worked there for a few weeks.”

“I know because you’re always so hardworking. There’s no way that won’t pay off.”

“It doesn’t matter if I’m hardworking!” Pudding complained. “Sometimes that’s simply not enough.”

Sanji was at a loss. He knew that what she said was true. So he only answered, “I will stand behind you no matter what.” But he instantly saw that Pudding’s mood had taken a turn to the worse.

An hour later, their date ended. He paid without giving a tip to the waiter who looked at him disgruntled. Sanji sent him an apologetic look. Pudding drove him to his apartment, but as they arrived, he saw that the lights were on. Pudding frowned.

Sanji felt a flash of panic surge up in him.

“Oh, seems I forgot to turn off the lights,” he said as she parked at the side of the street. She turned around to him.

“Maybe your electricity bills would be lower if you wouldn’t.”

“I’ll be more careful next time.” Sanji scratched his head. Fuck, he hoped Zoro was asleep or some shit and wouldn’t actually look out of the window. They were parking at the end of the street and couldn’t see that well up to the window, but he didn’t want to leave a thing like this to chance.

“See you tomorrow?” He turned around to her, leaning in for a kiss. Pudding smiled and gave it to him, her lips just as soft as ever. Sanji wanted to linger and run his hand through her hair, but then she had already leaned backwards and started the car again.

With a sigh, Sanji got out of the car and watched her drive away. It had been a stressful day and he wished he could have taken her upstairs, but instead he had a nearly 6’5 tall feathery guy waiting for him. He made his way up the stairs to his apartment. He had expected Zoro to idly lie around on the couch as always, but as he entered he found him pacing in his apartment. He was wearing Sanji’s clothes. They fit him well for the most part, even though the shirt was a stretch and more filled out than if Sanji had worn it. Zoro glanced at him, but resumed his pacing without pause.

“Something the matter?” Sanji asked, setting the keys down.

“I feel like a prisoner,” Zoro growled, accent thick. “This den is too small and dark. I want real food. I want to hunt.” He glanced at the window, but soon backed off in fear of being seen from someone outside, then said, this time more quietly, “I want to fly.”

“It’s only for a few days more,” Sanji found himself saying the same words as to Pudding a minute before. “Your injury has nearly healed, hasn’t it?”

Zoro shrugged.

“I’m not sure how far I could fly, though,” he said.

Slowly, Zoro stretched his healthy wing, then began to do the same with his injured wing as far as he dared to. He winced, but after a few moments he stood in Sanji’s apartment with his wings fully outstretched. He nearly occupied the entire room. The light of the single light-bulb reflected on the vibrant blue of his upper feathers, the underside was streaked in white and brown. In his boredom, Zoro had preened his feathers until they were completely clean, every feather pointing in the direction it was supposed to go. Sanji held his breath.

“What do you mean?” he finally asked. Zoro shrugged his shoulders, his wings rustling with the motion.

“I don’t think I can fly all the way up.”

“Well, then we’ll wait for a few days longer.”

Zoro flapped his wings. The stack of papers on his desk tumbled over. Sanji ignored it. Fuck those papers, it was only math and he was shit at this subject anyway.

Zoro pulled at his hair.

“You don’t understand. I need to fly.”

“Well, you can’t. The apartment is too small for that,” he told him.

Zoro huffed, “Outside.”

“You can’t be serious. What if someone sees you? It’s dangerous enough for me that I’m harboring you, I won’t take you on a walk.”

“So why do it at all?” Zoro asked, not for the first time and crossed his arms. “If it’s so dangerous for you.”

Sanji decided not to answer that. He didn’t know why he did it either. He couldn’t just have turned his back on him, could he? But Zoro was dumb as toast, he wouldn’t understand a concept like morals.

* * *

Smiling at the kid one last time, Chopper closed the door to the little patient’s room behind him. Working in the children’s ward was more demanding than he would have thought. Small kids like these demanded more from a doctor than just medical attention – they needed someone to talk to, someone to ease their worries. He had already soothed a handful of children before they went into surgery. He could understand their worries, it was frightening enough to be operated on if you were an adult and it had to be even scarier when you were too young to understand it properly.

It was eleven in the evening and he hadn’t taken a break for over ten hours. He was exhausted behind measure, but what else could he do? He had chosen this profession out of his own free will. At least now the pressure would ease off a little bit. Most of his little patients were asleep right now, except for those who had trouble to fall asleep like the little boy who he had just talked to. He hoped he had been able to ease his worries about his upcoming operation.

Slouching along the empty hallway, he made his way to the office he was allowed to use. He still had some reports to do and now, when he had time and no one needed him for the remainder of his shift, he could also work on his current essay. The light on his laptop was still on, but the monitor was on standby mode. He made himself comfortable on the cheap hospital chair and moved the mouse to wake it up. His password was a funny pun he had heard once and he snickered as he typed it in. The monitor glowed brightly. He squinted as he hurried to turn down the brightness.

An hour passed. He made great progress on his reports. It was all routine for him already, he didn’t know why so many of his fellow students kept complaining about those every week or so. It wasn’t exactly fun to do, but it was necessary to keep the patients’ health on track. Still, after another thirty minutes had passed, he felt his eyes slowly getting heavier. The words swam in front of his eyes and he closed them for a minute, hoping that it would ease the burn in them. But as he blinked them open again, they still hurt. Maybe he should go to his doctor for new glasses. His eyesight was bad enough already and rapidly declining ever since he had begun his med studies, but delaying getting new glasses would only worsen his eyesight in the long run. He blinked a few times, then picked his eye drops from their place on the desk and used them. It became better immediately.

Chopper sighed and leaned back, ignoring the creak of his chair. This was just the point where he knew that he wouldn’t get a lot more done tonight. If he was lucky, he would just be able to finish the reports, but there was no way he would be able to work on his essay tonight. Maybe tomorrow. At least sometime this week. It was only Thursday, so he should be able to squeeze in some time for working on his own studies.

A message popped up on his email account. He ignored it for a few seconds, rubbing his temple, before curiosity got the better of him and he clicked on it. Eyes flitting over the sender’s name, he saw that it was from Robin. He smiled. It was always interesting to talk to her.

‘I hope you’re doing well’, it read, ‘I am working on a new lecture regarding ecological speciation. Do you want to read the draft?’ Excited, Chopper typed back. Robin was a genius. When he had first met her at a conference his university had hosted, he had thought her distant and cold, but once he had gotten under her shell, she was a genuinely nice and interesting person. She didn’t care that her scientific interest didn’t match that of most of her peers and her approaches were just so different from everyone else. He’d even developed a little crush on her for the first few weeks. Of course that was silly, she was over twice his age.

Chopper bit his lip while he continued to phrase an answer. Of course he was interested in seeing her draft. What kind of doctor would he be if he’d only learn about half of humanity’s population?

Having sent the message, he stretched and laid his hands on the keyboard again. He halted. He had nearly forgotten it during the stress of his work day and the glee over Robin’s message, but he hadn’t heard from Sanji for a few days. It wasn’t like they called each other all of the time. Both of them had busy lives, after all. But ever since he had told him about having a winged one in his home, Chopper couldn’t stop worrying.

Sanji had emailed him a few pictures of the wing, but he hadn’t been able to see much. They were slightly blurry, as Sanji’s camera was old, and he hadn’t seen more than maybe a slight swelling. He had told him that much. 

There was a reason he had told Sanji not to call the police or tell anyone else for that matter. Even though Sanji was just a civilian and had just wanted to help someone in need, he could get in serious trouble for that. At the very least, they would take the winged one from him. He had no idea what they would do to Sanji because as far as he knew, there hadn’t been anyone in contact with a winged one, so there was no exemplary case. The very best he could do was to keep him in his apartment and hope no one would notice.

Should he tell Robin about what he knew? She would definitely be interested.

If it were anyone else, he wouldn’t even have hesitated. But this was his best friend and he had told him this secret in confidence. He could never forgive himself if he told anyone else and then brought things into motion he couldn’t stop anymore.

No. He wouldn’t tell her anything.

His fingers flurried over the keyboard as he sent her a quick message, asking her for sending the draft to him.

Then he minimized the email program and began to work on his reports once more.

* * *

On Saturday, Sanji took Pudding to the zoo. It was too cold to go the entire round, but the zoo also had a big aquarium and a bird house. They only had to pay half a price for those and Sanji happily offered her his arm as they walked around the aquarium. The fish behind the thick glass were colorful and vanished between the corals as soon as someone stepped too close to the glass. Pudding was mesmerized.

“Do you think they know that they’re in an aquarium?” she asked, her eyes following the dashing from a school of fish.

“I hope not. That would be sad, wouldn’t it?”

Pudding chuckled.

“How philosophical of you, Sanji!” Her laugh made him smile. He held a hand against her lower back, partly to keep her steady as she stood on tiptoes to watch the fish, partly to feel the warmth radiating from her body. She glanced up at him, her smile showing her white teeth. “Let’s go over there, yeah? I think there are the big ones.”

With that, she took his hand and pulled him towards a broad tank which took up an entire wall. Sanji read the plate. It read ‘Marbled Lungfish’. Suddenly, something big moved into the corner of his eye and he flinched slightly as he caught sight of the Lungfish; it was huge, maybe longer than Sanji was tall. It moved slowly, as if in trance, until it arrived at the other end of the tank and just let itself float on the coarse gravel.

“Wow,” he breathed. “That thing is huge.” Some kids pushed against him to get a better view and he protectively put an arm around Pudding.

“I didn’t know there were huge fish like this,” Pudding said, her mouth opened. “Look at how long it is! It’s nearly a third of the tank!”

Sanji nodded. The lungfish’s scales were spotted like marble, just as the name said, and easily blended with the ground it was lying on. The eyes were small compared to its size. For some reason, Sanji got the impression that it was sleepy.

“It’s kinda ugly, though, don’t you think?” Pudding looped her arm around him. “I’m glad I wasn’t born a fish.”

“Well, that would make our relationship awkward,” Sanji quipped, hoping she wouldn’t take the joke too serious. She poked his tongue out at him. “The plate said that they can even breathe air. Isn’t that cool?”

They stayed in front of the tank until a school class made their way to the tank and they quickly escaped to another passage. At one point, Sanji held Pudding up so she could see better and she laughed in delight. Sanji wasn’t too interested in fish, except the ones you could cook. The one year he had taken classes in culinary school he had learned to prepare fish, but now he wasn’t even able to buy some.

An hour later, they went from the aquarium to the bird house. Sanji could hear the flutter of wings before they even entered and for a moment, he panicked, thinking that Zoro had somehow managed to get here. Of course that was bullshit.

The bird house was a giant two stories high dome which housed a variety of different species. Most of them seemed to be on the tropical side; there was a parrot right next to the entrance, sitting on a perch and croaking nearly human sounding words. Palm trees framed the pathway which was splintered with wood. Soon, they crossed a bridge over an artificial stream and Sanji lead Pudding to the railing to watch the colorful birds that were picking on the ground near the bank.

“I wish we could live in a paradise like this,” Pudding said dreamily, leaning over the railing. Sanji put an arm around her. She was warm and her cute knit dress clung to her body.

“Maybe we can fly somewhere like this? You know, when I’m finished with my studies and saved up a bit?”

“Sure.” Pudding put her chin in one hand, staring at the stream flowing just a few feet beneath them. “But that still takes so long. I’d like to go now. Or at least go somewhere where it isn’t so cold in the winter.”

Thinking of his heating bills, Sanji nodded. He spotted a bird dipping into the water, droplets flying everywhere as it ruffled its wings.

“Look at that one! Isn’t it beautiful?” he exclaimed.

The bird’s color reminded him a bit of Zoro. It was almost the same shade of blue. Maybe he should just dump him at the bird’s house so he would be with his own kind. He chuckled inwardly. With how big his wings were, Zoro would probably reach the top of the building really fast. He wondered if the birds on the ground had ever tried that. Did they know that they were in an artificial setting? That they were cut off from the sky by a translucent wall? Probably not. They were probably very happy in their little world, their tiny bird brains only encompassing simple thoughts like eating bird seed and not having to flee from predators.

Pudding tugged at his hand. He rested his arm on her hip as they slowly walked further along the path and he shooed any thoughts about Zoro away. Why was he even thinking about him when he was on a date with his sweet girlfriend?

* * *

When Sanji arrived home, Zoro was staring out of the window. Quietly, Sanji closed the door. He dumped his keys at their usual place and threw his coat into the corner. He didn’t have a wardrobe. Then he stepped up to him and followed his gaze. There was not much to see, just the dark back alley with the overflowing dumpster. Still, Zoro kept his eyes fixed to the outside, not even acknowledging that he had noticed him. Sanji was sure, though, that he had. Even if it didn’t seem so, there hadn’t been a single moment in the last week where Zoro had lowered his vigilance.

“Looking for something specific?” Sanji finally asked. This unusual passiveness made him uncomfortable. It took a long time for Zoro to answer, and when he did, his voice was rough with something Sanji couldn’t identify.

“How can you live like this?” he asked. Sanji furrowed his brows – sure, he wasn’t very happy at the moment, but some people just had to work hard before they could become happy. Other people didn’t, but he wasn’t one of those.

“What do you mean?”

“All this … confinement,” Zoro added unhelpfully.

“It may have undergone your notice, but I’m actually able to go wherever I want,” Sanji said, frustration rising in him. “I’m not confined to this flat.”

Zoro didn’t even look at him; he still stared out of the window, when he replied, “You go to your ‘work’. You get food. You go here. Everyday. You’re as much a prisoner as me.”

“Don’t get philosophical with me, birdie!” Sanji exclaimed, more harshly than he’d intended.

Where had that come from? He had plenty of freedom! Just today, he had been at the zoo with Pudding. It was his own decision. Well, okay, it had been mostly Pudding’s decision, but what made her happy made him happy, too. And when he had finally finished his studies and got a good job, he’d be able to travel to wherever he wanted. He would rent a nice little flat, much nicer than this, and it would be near enough to his working place so he wouldn’t have to travel half across town everyday.

Zoro ruffled his wings. They seemed to be in better condition lately. Maybe there was a germ of truth to it and he needed to fly to remain healthy, just like one of the signs in the bird house had said. Maybe his muscles would grow too weak to actually fly when his wings were finally healed. Sanji didn’t even want to imagine that scenario. He would be bound to him even longer and who knew if he would be able to keep his secret for this amount of time?

Zoro snorted. “Teh. Doesn’t matter.”

Sanji ground his teeth. The spark of sympathy he had felt vanished in a second. This guy was just so infuriating – who did he think he was? Some Socrates?

“So you think your life is really so much better than mine? You don’t even know what money is, you still have to hunt for food and you’re not even allowed to come here! What’s so good about this? You think you bird guys have it better than us?”

Zoro kept silent.

“You know what?” Sanji rushed to the corner of the room where he had thrown his coat a few minutes before. His phone was in there. “Have it your way. You feel confined? Then let’s change that.”

He tapped on his phone until he found Pudding’s number and held it to his ear before the first ring sounded. Zoro turned around to him, his eyes wide.

“You mean-” His wings were twitching. Sanji didn’t answer him. Pudding picked up after the third ring.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said, immediately laying on the charm. “I know we just said goodbye, but could you please do me a favor?”

“What is it this time? Did you do something?” Pudding sounded exasperated.

“No, I didn’t. Please don’t worry about me, my darling. I … kind of need your car.” For a few seconds, there was silence at the other end of the line.

“What for?” she then asked. Sanji hesitated. He didn’t want her to know what he was planning to do.

“I, uh, have to take Chopper somewhere.” He hoped he couldn’t hear the quiver in his voice. He had never actually lied to her. It felt easier than he had anticipated and something in his gut twisted. Did lying make him a bad person?

“Seriously? Can’t he drive there by himself?” she asked.

“It’s a bit out of town, so it wouldn’t be easy for him. Please? You’d really help me out. I mean him.”

He could practically feel her thinking. He had to suppress the urge to gnaw on his bottom lip.

“Well, if it’s really necessary. Although I’m hoping for you that this doesn’t become the norm. So, when do you need the car?”

Relieved, Sanji arranged with her that her driver would drop her car off later this evening and would get it the next morning. Then he emailed Chopper so he wouldn’t blab. The entire time, Zoro was watching him silently, his eyes unblinking like an owl’s. Sanji wiped the sweat off his brow as he lowered his phone.

“We’ll drive outside the city this evening,” Sanji declared. “It should be remote enough that no one’s there at the time, so you can test out your wings.”

Immediately, Zoro’s face lit up. His feathers shifted and he spread his wings as if he wanted to fly through the apartment right now and then. Sanji tucked his phone away again. He could only hope Pudding wouldn’t ask him too much about Chopper. That was some deep shit he had stepped into.

Suddenly, Zoro was in front of his face.

“Why are you scared?” Zoro asked.

“What? I’m not scared.”

“You reek of angst.” Zoro scrunched his nose up.

“I’m just a bit nervous because I lied to my girlfriend just now. You don’t want to see her when she’s angry.” Why was he telling him that? It was none of his business. On the other hand, there was no way he would ever tell anyone about their conversation. “She can be a bit bossy, sometimes. But I like that,” he added, grinning.

Zoro blinked at him.

“Lying is bad. But lying and then being scared about it is dumb.”

“What’s with you and lying? Why are you so hung up about that?”

“Lying means you did something bad and now don’t want to stand behind it. Why do it in the first place?”

Sanji tried to find an answer for that.

“Well, sometimes it’s better if some people don’t know everything. So they won’t get hurt,” he said slowly. In the hope that Zoro would be distracted from the topic, he added, “And I just lied to her because I don’t want her to know that I’m taking you out.”

It worked. Zoro grinned and flapped his wings experimentally, nearly hitting the light bulb with them.

* * *

A few hours later, Sanji heard a car pull up in front of the house. It was nearly ten p.m., which was the time he had arranged.

“Go into the bathroom,” he said to Zoro just in time as there was a knock on the door. He waited for Zoro to vanish into the bathroom, then opened the door. Pudding’s driver was an elderly man, the same one she’d had when they met a few years ago and became first friends, then a couple. His strict looking face didn’t change as he handed Sanji the car key.

“Thanks,” Sanji said. The driver nodded and left. Weird guy. He had no idea how he would come back now that his car was here, but that wasn’t his problem. Maybe he would take the bus for a change.

Zoro came out of the bathroom again.

“Okay.” Sanji put his coat on and shoved both the key to his flat and the car key into his pocket. Then he picked his bed cover up and threw it into Zoro’s direction. “Put that around your shoulders so no one can see your wings. It may look weird, but at least no one will know who you are. If we’re lucky, no one will see us at all.”

Zoro did as he was told without complaining. He seemed to be too anxious to finally get out. The bed cover bulged around his shoulders, making it seem like he was hunchbacked, and Sanji wasted a moment by thinking about him acting in a Notre Dame cameo. Then he remembered what he was about to do.

He couldn’t believe he was taking such a huge risk. But now it was too late to back down.

Slowly, he opened the door to the hallway and peered through the crack. No one was there, not even his landlord. Just to be safe, he waited a few minutes more. It wouldn’t be the first time his landlord observed the hallway through the peephole just to satisfy his curiosity or get him into trouble. Then he opened the door fully and indicated Zoro to follow him with a wave of his hand.

Zoro was so silent that he had to turn around a few times just to check that he was still there. Without making a noise, they made it through the hallway and down the stairs. The icy cold air hit him into the face as they hurried to the car which was parked just opposite of the pizzeria. It was pretty crowded. It was Saturday evening, after all. He hoped his boss wouldn’t notice him; it would be better if as few as possible people would see him. Fortunately, Zoro looked mostly like any other human with the bed covers slung around his shoulders.

His heart was beating faster as he fished the key out of his pocket and opened the car’s door. He sat down in the driver’s seat. It was still warm as the car had been parked here not even ten minutes ago.

Zoro still stood outside. Hastily, Sanji opened the other door.

“What are you waiting for? Hop in!”

Zoro made a step back.

“What is this? I thought you wanted to take me somewhere I could fly.”

Sanji could have punched himself. Of course someone like Zoro didn’t know what a car was.

“I am,” he tried to explain it to him as patiently as he was able to, “this is something that will bring us there. I promise.”

“First you lie, then you expect me to trust you?”

“I never lied to you,” Sanji said. The longer they remained here, the higher was the risk that someone would see them. The people in the pizzeria only had to raise their heads to see them. “Well, at least not about something important.”

To his surprise, Zoro bent down and got into the car. He had to fold his legs awkwardly and lean forward so as not to put pressure on his wings, then he surprised him even more by actually closing the door. Sanji turned the key in the ignition. Zoro jerked, the soft feathers on his forehead bristling.

“Don’t panic, that’s normal,” Sanji said as he pulled out of the parking lot and out on the street. Zoro’s eyes were wide. He was gripping the door handle so hard that his knuckles appeared white. Sanji snorted. “Seriously? A big bad guy like you is scared of a car?”

“Is this how your people travel?” Zoro pressed out between his teeth.

“They do. If you got enough money.”

The rest of the drive passed more or less without incident. Zoro looked a bit green in the face, but after a while his death grip on the door lessened and soon, he looked around curiously. The city wasn’t much to look at. It was mostly concrete and asphalt with a few single trees planted in even spaces. It was the pitiful attempt to green up the place, but it only managed to appear more bleak. After half an hour, the concrete increasingly made space for more green areas; trees and bushes lined the streets and the houses began to be fewer and more sparsely sown.

The field he had in mind was even further away, though. They drove a good part of another hour until Sanji finally slowed the car down, took a turn and drove over a bumpy farm road.

“We’re here-” he began, but Zoro had already wrenched open the door and stormed outside. The bed covers were lying partly in the car and partly outside in the mud. Sanji sighed. Turning the car off, he opened the door. The frozen ground crunched beneath his shoes as he closed both doors and locked the car.

Zoro had already run off right into the field. Stalks of dry grass brushed his legs as he crossed the field, the tips of half extended wings brushing over them. Here, out in the open, it was somehow easier to see the span of his wings which were just as wide as he was tall, the longest feathers the length of Sanji’s arm. They appeared like dark water in the night. Only a sliver of moonlight lightened his path as he hurried to catch up with him.

In his hastiness, he had forgotten to bring a flashlight. Therefore, he could barely make out Zoro’s face in the dark, but he was sure that the flash of white must have been his teeth as he grinned at him.

Zoro bent his knees as if preparing for a jump. Sanji took a step back. Wind brushed his face and he needed a moment to understand that it was from Zoro moving his wings up and down, the flapping sound of it louder than he would have thought.

And then he jumped.

For a moment, Sanji thought that he wouldn’t make it. It was like he was weightless, hanging between the earth and the sky.

And then suddenly, he flew.

He raced over the sky, a dark silhouette which was only visible in front of the clouds. Sanji held his breath. The sky seemed so much nearer in this moment; he thought he could just reach out and touch it and it would run like quicksilver in his hand. There was so much above him and as far as he could see, even in the distance there was no end to it. The frozen ground underneath him felt like a heavy anchor and he wished he could imitate the stranger above and just fly.

In that moment, Zoro fell like a stone.

Sanji yelped and immediately ran towards him. When he arrived at his side, Zoro had already picked himself up and brushed the dirt from his leather pants.

“Are you hurt?” Sanji asked anyway. Zoro shook his head. Then he stood up without saying anything else. Sanji scratched his head. “I guess it was still too early to try, huh? But at least you managed to fly a short distance, even though the end wasn’t-”

“Shut up, will you?” Zoro interrupted him. He tilted his head back and watched the sky. Sanji did the same, but whatever Zoro saw, he couldn’t see it at all. Zoro had his wings folded back, the tips of it brushing the grass beneath their feet.

“Do you miss it?” Sanji asked, voice quiet. Zoro didn’t answer immediately, but kept staring at the sky. The wind was ruffling the soft feathers on his hairline.

“Of course I do.” He stretched his wings and for a moment Sanji thought he wanted to try again, but then he tucked them back, the wings still huge and disrupting Sanji’s sense of reality. “It’s my home. I don’t know anything else. And-” He didn’t speak any further. Sanji didn’t need to be a seer to guess what he had meant to say, though. It was clear in every other conversation they had had, about money, about needing to go somewhere everyday. About living in a tiny flat in the midst of a gray city, a lot of possibilities in theory, but nowhere to go.

He tilted his head back in an imitation of the winged one. Zoro knew both worlds now. Even though he had only been here for a week and hadn’t seen it all, he had compared those two worlds to each other and had come to a conclusion. Was it really that much better above? Or was it just different?

Well, it wasn’t like he would ever find out.

He turned on the spot, the grass crunching beneath his shoes.

“Let’s go back. I don’t want anyone to notice us.”

He didn’t wait for an answer. Without looking back, he made his way to the car and stuck the key into the ignition. The motor droned to life and he watched the lights turning on behind the steering wheel. His seat was vibrating slightly. He tapped his fingers on the wheel.

When Zoro finally followed him, he opened the passenger seat without saying anything. Together, they started the trip home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the amount of scenes with Pudding, I don't like writing about her either :P I'll make it up to ya'll in later chapters ;3


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro's short getaway has consequences and Sanji takes a risk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to COTZO who offered to beta this story for me and did an amazing job :3

The next day began lazy. Sanji allowed himself to sleep in as it was Sunday and he had nowhere to be until five p.m., when his shift at the pizzeria began. He pressed his face into his pillow and stretched all his limbs, then rolled himself up in his covers until only the top of his head peeked out of it. Sundays were great. Well, at least most of them. He still had to learn plenty for his exam next week, but that could wait for after he had at least two cups of coffee. It was already bright outside, meaning it was at least nine in the morning. Definitely too early to stand up.

Then he heard quiet shuffling from somewhere across the room. Ah, right. For a moment, still dizzy and with one foot still somewhere in dreamland, he had all forgotten about his special guest. The sound recurred, accompanied with a quiet groan. Blindly, Sanji stuck one hand out of his self-made burrito-style nest and fumbled around until he got a hold of his phone. Blearily, he opened his eyes, the numbers on the display appearing blurry for a moment. 09:12. Where winged ones also early risers?

“Don’t make such a racket,” he grumbled.

No answer.

He pressed his face into the pillow again and tried counting his breaths to fall asleep. Again shuffling, more groaning, and then he heard the pitter-patter of feet against the floor. Grudgingly, he opened one eye and stared across the room and to the couch where Zoro had fallen asleep last night. It was empty. He had probably gone to the bathroom – an invention he fortunately hadn’t needed to explain to him.

A few minutes later, he was still nowhere close to sleep. Damn it, he hated it when his inner clock prevented him from sleeping in because he was used to getting up way earlier during workdays. Now that he finally had the chance to get some shut-eye, he couldn’t. Also, what was Zoro doing in the bathroom for so long? He hadn’t heard the flush of water. Had he forgotten how or what?

He felt a bit like a creep for noticing something like that, but anyway, sleep was out of the question now. Maybe he could take a midday nap like an old man today. With his feet, he pushed the covers away and sat up. After roughly rubbing his palms over his face, he glanced at the bathroom door. It was closed. What was he doing in there for so long?

“Zoro?” he called out.

“What?” The voice was muffled.

“Is everything alright? Has my razor scared you again?”

No answer. It seemed like Zoro wouldn’t rise to the bait.

Groaning, he stretched like a cat, and then got up. He didn’t bother folding up his blanket – he didn’t expected any visitors today and wanted to divide his time between studying and sleeping. No time for cleaning.

He brewed a can of coffee for himself – he would need it today – and sat down on the couch. There were some feathers from Zoro which he must have lost since last night. It was like having some weird kind of dog with feathers instead of smelly hair. Except that this dog could also talk and have thoughts of his own and – miss his home. Sanji sighed. Yesterday had felt different from the other days since he had found him in the back alley. Zoro had been a nuisance at best and a danger for him at worst, but now that he had seen him fly he felt like something had formed a knot deep inside his stomach.

It could be that he was just hungry, though.

Also, he needed to take a piss.

“Hurry up, will you?” he shouted again. If that bastard was ignoring him on purpose, he would come in, regardless if he was still sitting on the toilet or not.

“Don’t rush me!” Zoro shouted back.

“Then what’s taking you so long? Are you constipated or what?”

Much to his satisfaction, the bathroom door opened and Zoro strode out. Sanji grinned at him, a smug sentence on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped when he saw Zoro’s face. It was pale, dark shadows a stark contrast to the brightness of his eyes.

“What’s up?” he asked.

Zoro pulled his lower lip between his teeth, then walked past him and let himself fall down next to him. The couch dipped from his weight. His wing twitched and Zoro jerked. Sanji frowned.

“Is it your injury? Is it bothering you?”

Zoro glanced at him, hesitating. For the shortest of moments, Sanji believed he saw a flicker of fear in them, but it vanished as soon as it came. Maybe he had only imagined it.

“I strained myself to much yesterday, I think,” Zoro muttered. “But the pain will go away.”

Sanji leaned forward, the mug warming his hands.

“Is that why you where in the bathroom for so long?”

“You have a mirror in there. Wanted to look at it.” Zoro shrugged. “I couldn’t turn around enough, though.”

“Should I take a look at it?” Zoro leaned away from him, folding his wings closer to his body and then flinched. Sanji rolled his eyes. “Seriously, come on. You can’t see it and I haven’t seen it since a week ago. What if it’s gotten infected?”

“The cuts have closed, it won’t get infected,” Zoro muttered, but still turned around so his back was showing to Sanji. Carefully, Sanji pulled the feathers apart. It was hard to see past the downy feathers. Zoro was correct, the few cuts he’d had when he’d found him in the dumpster had healed quite nicely. Now he could only see some faint white lines crossing the paler skin beneath his wings. Carefully, he touched the skin with one finger. Zoro jerked and pulled his wing out of his grasp. “What the hell? Don’t do that!”

“It was only a light touch,” Sanji said, crossing his arm. “Clearly, it’s still sensitive.”

Zoro bared his teeth for a moment, but then shifted again so Sanji was able to get his hands back on his wing.  
“Maybe you have strained it too much yesterday.” This time, he avoided touching him there directly. He could see the swelling clearly now. “I’ll get some ice.”

He had no idea if that would help, but ice-packs normally helped in situations like this. Rummaging around in the fridge, he quickly found one old ice-pack, then remembered Zoro’s pale face.

“Did you not get any sleep last night because of this?” he asked as he put one knee on the couch and carefully held the ice pack against the swelling. Zoro grunted affirmatively. “Come on, lie on your stomach.” He poked him in the side until Zoro laid down, his arms crossed beneath his head, and then put the ice-pack on top of the wing again. “Tell me if it gets uncomfortable or anything.” Zoro turned his head around and glanced at him. He looked like the night he had found him in the dumpster, in pain and a little bit frightened. Defensive.

It was probably for the best if Sanji would just leave him be. He picked his mug up again and took a sip, even though it had become cold by now. Zoro was occupying the entire length of the couch, his feet hanging off the end of it. Damn, now he had nowhere to sit.

“I have to prepare for an exam next week, so don’t bother me, okay?” Zoro probably didn’t even know what an exam or university was. Did they even have jobs up there? Or was it still all about hunting and gathering? “What do you do, anyway? I mean, for a living?”

“I’m a guardian,” Zoro muttered.

That sounded more ominous than like a real occupation, but Sanji nodded as if he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t inquire any further and Zoro wasn’t forthcoming with any other information. His papers were still lying on the table. They were jumbled, but he had been organized enough to have numbered them and had quickly brought them into order again. A few minutes later, he was deeply immersed into his study session.

The day progressed slowly, as did his studying. After maybe half an hour, he already felt like his head was bursting with information. He had tried writing it down on little cue cards, sometimes filling them completely with his notes, but never remembering much of the information on it. He was only in his third semester. How difficult would it be in his final one? Maybe he should get Chopper to help him again. If anyone knew how to cram a ton of knowledge into his brain, it was him.

He got up to find something to eat in the fridge and stretched his numb limbs. Zoro seemed to be asleep. Maybe the ice-pack had helped. Carefully, he approached him, some leftovers from yesterday in his hand. It wasn’t much, but Zoro was probably hungry, too. He prodded his shoulder. In an instant, Zoro shot up, flinched and then folded in on himself. Sanji sprung back and gasped. The ice-pack slipped on the floor.

Zoro gritted his teeth. The way he was holding his wings seemed unnatural.

“Are you okay?” It was a stupid question; it was clear that Zoro wasn’t okay at all. He took another step back and the back of his knees bumped against the table. Zoro was growling, almost too low to hear it, still holding his wing half unfolded as if afraid to move it. Sanji swallowed. “Are you – are you in pain?”

Instead of answering, Zoro slowly, carefully lowered himself back on the couch again, leaving his wing hanging off the back of the couch. A faint tremble ran through his form.

Fuck. He was no doctor. He had done everything he could think of, but who knew what was wrong with Zoro? Maybe it was infected after all? He hadn’t seen any indication for it, but what did he know?

He took a deep breath. There was only one thing he could do now.

After he had put the ice-pack on Zoro’s wing again, he picked his phone off the table and quickly walked into the bathroom. Hopefully, he wasn’t acting too suspicious, but he doubted Zoro was very aware of him at the moment. He closed the door and leaned against the sink. Then he made a call. Meeting his gaze in the mirror, he waited for Chopper to pick up.

Finally, after waiting for seemingly an eternity, Chopper answered the call.

“What’s up? I’m at the hospital right now.” There was a lot of background noise which made it hard to understand him. Normally, Sanji wouldn’t call him when he knew he was at work, but he didn’t know what else to do.

Breathlessly, Sanji started to talk, “Sorry, man, I didn’t know who else to call and you already know of, well, you know of him, and it has gotten worse-”

“I’m not understanding a word, slow down! I’m getting somewhere private, wait a minute.”

Sanji moved through the narrow space of the bathroom, his head bowed while he waited for Chopper to speak again. He hoped he wouldn’t ask him why he needed to cover for him yesterday. He hadn’t asked when Sanji had told him about his lie to Pudding, but he knew Chopper would make his own assumptions. Would he give him instructions on what to do through the line? Would he even be able to help without seeing Zoro in person?

“I’m back.” Chopper’s voice was much calmer than Sanji felt. He swallowed. His throat felt dry.

“It’s – Zoro. You know, the winged one?”

“Are you in your flat?”

“Yeah, of course. Was studying. He complained about pain this morning and I gave him an ice-pack, but when he moved just now he really seemed to be in pain and I don’t know what I’m doing, what if it’s something serious? What if he dies?”

“Calm down.” Chopper didn’t even hesitate for a second. “Tell me the symptoms.”

“Well, he’s – I don’t think anything is broken, right? He wouldn’t be able to move it otherwise, would he? But it’s swollen and a bit red and, yeah, it hurts to move apparently. He hasn’t even slept this night because of this.”

“Since when has it been like this? The whole week?”

“No, only since this night.”

“Has he done anything strenuous then?”

Sanji bit his lip.

“Maybe?”

“Sanji.” Chopper sighed. “What did he do?”

“We, um, kinda went outside and he … flew?”

Chopper sighed, but didn’t berate him. He could probably put two and two together now.

“That sounds like he just strained himself too much. The pain will probably subside in a day. Just keep it cooled and don’t put any pressure on it. And for God’s sake, don’t let him fly.”

Sanji glanced at himself in the mirror. What Chopper said sounded reasonable, but what did he know? Sanji could have easily missed something or neglected to tell him some small detail. And winged ones were different from humans. While they had been fighting, he had noticed that Zoro was way lighter than he had any right to be, as if his bones were hollow. He vaguely recalled that birds had that, too. Maybe it was broken after all? Fuck, what if he had injured him further when he had intentionally shoved his knee on Zoro’s wing? Maybe there was some internal wound he hadn’t noticed until now which had been slowly eating away at him? He had an inkling that Zoro would be too proud to tell him everything. He had fallen from the sky, for fucks sake. There could be all things wrong with him.

“I’m gonna ask you a huge favor,” he whispered into the phone. He glanced at the bathroom door, shifting from one foot to the other. “Maybe you’re right and it’s nothing. But maybe not. So – could you please come over?”

There was a moment of silence at the other end of the line. Then, after several long seconds, Chopper spoke up, “I have to finish my shift first. But I’ll be around at five thirty, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you. I owe you.”

“You don’t,” Chopper said. “See you later, okay?”

“Yeah.”

Sanji listened to the clicking sound as Chopper hung up. Had he made the right decision? He didn’t want to come out of the bathroom just yet as his face would probably betray him the instant Zoro saw him. It was the safer way – at least from one perspective – as it ensured that Zoro’s health would be in the most capable hands. But simultaneously, it wasn’t safe at all. He should never have told Chopper in the first place and now he was coming over soon and he only had a few hours to come up with a way to explain to Zoro why the hell he had fucked up and told his best friend just one day after he fell into his backyard.

Rubbing his face hard, he stuffed his phone into his pocket. Then he pushed the door open.

Zoro didn’t even glance up, his face still mushed into the fabric of the sofa, which was convenient for Sanji. He sat down in front of the coffee table again and stared at his notes. Why was there so much information? Had he really written as much during the lectures? How the hell was he supposed to learn all of that stuff in just a few days?

Zoro turned his head.

“What are you staring at the whole time?” he muttered. His voice was quieter than before. Sanji wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign.

“The notes from my lecture,” Sanji said, shuffling his cue cards again. He picked one and read the word on the front. He’d had that card before, he’d just written it the other day, but he couldn’t remember what stood on the other side for the life of him.

“Lecture?” Zoro pauses, as if he was thinking about what Sanji could mean. Sanji doubted there was a university up there. Finally, Zoro seemed to settle on something. “What was is about?”

“It’s nothing you’d understand.” Not that he understood it any better. He was glad for each second he didn’t have to concentrate on trying to cram the information into his head. It was like it fell out of his head just as fast.

“Try me,” Zoro said.

“It’s-” Sanji tried to come up with a good explanation. “You know, there’s a lot of calculation a company has to do? And there are rules on how to do it. So the company knows how well it has done in the past year.”

Zoro blinked.

“So you’re learning to be a merchant?”

Sanji cringed.

“Well, something like that,” he said, already turning back to his notes.

“No, tell me! I want to know what you do.”

Why?, Sanji asked himself. It wasn’t like he would be here for a long time anymore.

“It’s – I try to sell something. But I do that in a company. You know what that is?” Zoro looked at him blankly. “Uh,” Sanji tried to come up with an explanation, “it’s a group of people working together to produce and sell something.”

“So it’s a shop.”

“Kind of? But it’s way bigger. The company I work at has thousands of people working for them.” As he said that, Zoro’s eyes widened. Sanji couldn’t help but feel a bit smug. “So it’s not exactly a shop.”

Zoro narrowed his eyes at him.

“Being bigger doesn’t mean that it’s better,” he muttered, then flinched. Sanji set his cue card down.

“Still hurting?” His hand was hovering between them in midair. Zoro grunted. Damn it. This was the perfect opportunity to come clean, but that didn’t make it any easier. He grabbed the cue card again and fumbled with its edges. “Actually, I have to tell you something.”

“What.” Zoro’s voice was muffled from the cushion his face was pressed into.

“So, first of all, I want you to know that I only mean to help you, okay? And you couldn’t do anything against me anyway, at least not when you’re wing is hurting like that.”

Zoro tensed.

“So, actually, I have a friend.” Sanji folded the card in half and unfolded it again. “He’s a doctor – well, a doctor in training, but he knows his stuff. And I … kind of told him about you.” Shit, his heart rate had just picked up. But what was the worst that could happen? Zoro was dependent on him, wasn’t he? “He’ll come here later and see if there’s some way to help you.”

Zoro didn’t say anything. For a moment, he was completely silent. Hasn’t he heard him? Was there something wrong with his brain? Maybe the injury had finally caught up with him and he was already slipping into unconsciousness-

“Was this the one you were talking to in the bathroom?” Zoro propped himself up on his elbows, wincing as the pain seemed to rush through his wing. Sanji stared at him.

“You heard me?”

“You’re not subtle at all. I could see that you were hiding something.” Zoro took a deep breath. “But is he trustworthy?”

Sanji didn’t need to think about that. “He is the one I trust the most.”

Zoro huffed.

“We’ll see. But for now it’s fine.”

“It’s not like you have a choice.”

“I’m not as defenseless as you think.”

Sanji grinned. “Wanna prove that to me?”

“Nah,” Zoro smirked and slowly laid back. “I’m hungry. You have anything to eat?”

Sanji rolled his eyes.

“You’re insatiable.”

* * *

It was almost half past six when there was a knock on his window. Zoro immediately shot up, flinching heavily and hissing in pain while Sanji went up to the window and carefully pulled the shutter up. Chopper was standing on the fire escape ladder, looking like a snowman with his thick coat, bobble cap and mittens. He smiled and waved at Sanji, his cheeks reddened by the cold.

Sanji threw a warning glance at Zoro who was watching him over the back of the couch.

“Behave yourself!” Sanji mouthed. Then he opened the window.

A zap of cold air came in. Chopper climbed carefully through the window and brushed snow from his coat. Sanji hadn’t realized it had snowed. Then Chopper looked past him, straight at Zoro and his eyes grew big.

“Oh my god,” Chopper exclaimed, slowly approaching the back of the couch. Zoro followed his every movement like a hawk until Chopper came to a halt less than a meter from him. Sanji held his breath. “Hello,” Chopper said faintly, “my name is Chopper. What’s your name?”

Zoro cocked his head. Did he want to play the same game he did when he met Sanji for the first time?

“He can speak, if you’re wondering about that.” Sanji remarked, crossing his arms. “He’s just playing dumb.”

Immediately, Zoro snarled at him and Chopper blanched.

“You can’t just say that to him, Sanji! He’s a winged one! They’re prideful!”

“How would you know? It’s the first time you met one.” Sanji huffed and let himself fall down next to Zoro, making the couch wobble. “I’ve been living with this guy for a week now and I tell you, he’s just interested in food and sleeping.”

“That’s because I’m injured,” Zoro spoke up, directing Chopper’s attention back to him. Zoro regarded him with a cold look. “My name is Zoro. You seem to know something about my people. Why is that?”

Chopper, being the nervous little kid he was, began to ramble, “Oh – just a couple of books we have here about the winged ones! I like to read a lot, even when it’s not about medicine.”

Zoro frowned, then laid back on his stomach and muttered, “You’re allowed to touch my wings.”

Chopper looked like Christmas had come early as he went around the couch and set his rucksack on the floor. Sanji tapped his fingers on his thighs. Zoro’s feet were pressing against his legs, but he didn’t mind. Chopper knelt down in front of the couch and carefully leaned closer.

“Is this the one?” he asked Zoro. It was fairly obvious which wing was injured as Zoro had spread it partly away from his body again, but he nodded anyway. With careful fingers, Chopper touched the upper part of his wings and spread the feathers apart. Sanji couldn’t see much from where he was sitting, but he knew that at least the cuts he had there have healed. “Can you move your wing at all?”

“Not without pain.”

“But you flew last night.” Chopper pulled back and fished a bottle out of the rucksack. Zoro nodded. “I’m not familiar with your anatomy, but you wouldn’t have been able to do that if something was broken. It’s likely that you just overdid it.”

“So he’s not in danger or anything?” Sanji wrung his hands. Chopper didn’t even look up at him as he stroked a hand down the wing, feeling out the muscles beneath the skin.

“Of course he’s in danger. He isn’t supposed to be here.” Suddenly, Chopper pressed down and Zoro jerked, his feet kicking Sanji. Chopper laid his hand on his upper back. “Sorry. Had to do that. It’s badly sprained. I can’t tell you how long it will take to heal – those kind of injuries are a bit unpredictable anyway and I don’t know much about your healing rate, so ...” He shrugged his shoulders. “Just take it easy, okay? No more flying.”

“I’ll get him out of here as soon as I can. But that isn’t happening until he can fly.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that? You already took a great risk in bringing him out to fly!” Chopper said accusatory. He unscrewed the bottle. “There’s not much I can do for now. This salve will help ease the pain. You should apply it like this every day,” he smeared a good amount of the thick salve on Zoro’s wing. The feathers began to stick together.

For some reason, Zoro’s feet had ended up on Sanji’s lap. Sanji frowned down at them as he confessed, “I took Pudding’s car. I figured it was the easiest way to get him out of town.”

“Oh my god, Sanji!” Chopper stared at him. “The easiest way isn’t always the best, you know! What if someone had seen you? How can you even know if someone has seen you?”

“I had no choice, okay? He was driving me nuts. And if anyone had seen me, don’t you think the cops would already have been here or something?”

A shadow flitted over Chopper’s face.

“Just try to be careful, okay?” It seemed like he wanted to say more. But then he put the salve down on the coffee table. Glancing at his notes, he asked, “Still studying for that exam?”

“I’m gonna fail,” Sanji said as if it were a fact and – well, it was. He didn’t understand anything about that subject. It was already the second time he attempted it and if he didn’t get it right this time, he only had one chance left. He could already guess how well he’d do with that extra pressure.

“You’re not gonna fail. If you’re going into the exam thinking like that, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.”

“Nice try, buddy.” Sanji picked up one of his cue cards. Did he know this one? “I’m not as smart as you.”

“Oh shut up! Your compliments won’t make me like you!” Chopper grinned. Sanji’s mouth twitched. He said that every time he got compliments because he didn’t like them for some reason. It was just plain adorable.

“You should believe him, he’s really not that bright,” Zoro quipped. Sanji smacked his feet.

“Shut up! I’m way smarter than you!”

“Can’t even figure out how to keep a secret,” Zoro needled him further.

“Well, at least I didn’t land in a fucking trashcan! I wonder how’s that for your pride?”

Zoro snorted. “You don’t know anything. I don’t care about that.”

“So you say, trash man-”

“What did you say-”

“Hey, hey, guys!” Chopper held his hands up. “Don’t fight, okay? Zoro, you shouldn’t move too much, Sanji, you should be learning and besides,” again, he rummaged around in his rucksack, “I brought us some food.”

That shut Zoro up. He leaned forward and inspected the packages Chopper was holding. There was meat and a bundle of vegetables. Sanji sighed.

“I can’t accept that.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Chopper got up and walked to his kitchen, as he had done many times before when Sanji was low on money. “It’s not charity, okay. It’s an act of friendship.”

“I hope I can repay you when I finally get that fucking degree,” Sanji muttered into his cue card.

Chopper huffed, but didn’t correct him. It was the same argument as always – Chopper would help him out by buying food or paying a long overdue bill and Sanji would promise him to pay him back. That just didn’t ever happen. He was just so tight on money that the last few days until his next paycheck were always those he could hardly scrape by. He could hide that fact from his classmates and from Pudding, but he couldn’t hide it from Chopper.

He went back to studying. Zoro had fallen silent, his head smushed into the corner between the sofa’s back and armrest. The scent of roasted beef soon filled his tiny flat and Sanji’s stomach rumbled. He actually managed to remember some of his cards and as Chopper turned the stove off, he felt almost elated.

* * *

The last time he had flown a distance like this had been when he had been just shy of adulthood and his best friends had dared him to search out another island. It had been said that it was overgrown with beautiful flowers. Usopp had instantly conceived the plan to make it there, pluck the single most beautiful flower he could find, and bring it back to Kaya. While she had not been bedridden at the time, she had already grown too weak to fly or do much besides sewing while sitting outside of her den.

The muscles connecting his wings to his back twinged painfully. Each motion felt like climbing up a mountain and sweat was running over his face. In the last few hours, the island had come nearer. Contrary to the lush green hills of his own home, there were ragged cliffs sprouting from it, like sharp thorns erupting and then suddenly halting in their movement, frozen in time. It was bigger than his own home, that was for sure, but maybe its shape was making it seem bigger than it really was.

Usopp squinted his eyes. Was there any place he could land on? A few people were soaring around the cliffs, evading the sharp edges without a second thought. He watched them for a moment, but nobody of them actually landed and his muscles were sore. He needed to land. Soon. Already, he wasn’t so sure if he could land anywhere without crashing, but the longer he waited the more likely it was that he would hurt himself doing it.

Slowly, he descended between the cliffs. Numerous waterfalls were pushing their way through the cleaves, some small, some roaring so loudly he wouldn’t be able to hold a conversation if he flew next to them. He had been noticed by now; some people turned to look at him, but never for long. He probably wasn’t the first one to visit them – aside from Luffy, a lot of people tended to fly to passing islands – therefore he wasn’t so interesting. In some way, he was glad about that. They wouldn’t become witness of his crash landing.

There! There was a small plateau, barely more than his wingspan. Encircled by an outlash of thorns, a bit hard to fly to. He could land there. He wasn’t the best in landing, especially not after a long flight like this, but he really had to take a break.

Descending was even harder now that he tried to reach his goal, maneuvering around the cliffs. The wind was unpredictable, blowing harder than before and pulling at his sore wings. His arms felt stiff and cold, his fingers numb and he stretched his arms out to help with balancing. The roaring of the waterfalls got louder, like static in his ears. Water splashed against his skin, carried by the wind and Usopp clenched his teeth. The platform seemed to be moving by itself as he reached forward with his legs. He stretched his arms even more, trying to balance, but he could hardly hold them in position as he flapped his wings with the last of his strength. His feet connected hard with the ground, pain shooting up his legs and spine as he let himself fall forward and instantly folded his wings to his body. He rolled over the ground, shoulders and wings smashing against the rock.

Usopp coughed. His knees stung and as he looked down at himself, he saw that his trousers were ripped and one of his knees was bleeding. But crash landing or not, he had made it to the other island.

Now he only had to find Luffy.

Brushing dirt from his pants, he stood up and looked around. The cliffs stretched out far above him. There was a small path leading away from the platform which wound its way on a hazardous thin trail, the rocks wet and slick from the nearby waterfall. Body feeling heavy, Usopp began to climb up. Small stones rolled away under his feet. It was hard to see as the setting sun was making the stone glow in reddish hues and nearly blinded him. More than once, he needed to jump or hold on to the slippery rock as he tried to make his way. His wings were useless, he doubted he could even make the flight back soon. He would have to find Luffy as soon as possible.

After what seemed like an eternity, the cliffs finally parted to make space for a slightly bigger plateau. The sun had just vanished behind the horizon and stretched the shadows into long figures, dancing from the few fireplaces strewn around. Usopp glanced around. There were only a few people here. Most of them kept to themselves at the fireplaces, talking in low tones and only glancing at him shortly before getting back to their own conversations.

He took a deep breath and approached the smallest group of them.

“Hello,” he greeted them with a shaky voice. He hoped he didn’t sound as tired as he felt. They looked up – two men and one young woman. There was a frown on each of their faces. “Could you help me? I’m searching for a friend.”

“You’re not from here, are you?” It was the seemingly oldest of them. His voice was rough and the build of his body reminded Usopp of Zoro. Wary, he took a step back. He was probably a guardian, too, and Usopp resisted the urge to turn tails. He shook his head.

“No, I’m from the next island. My friend has flown here last night and-”

“Why are you searching for him?” the guardian interrupted. How rude.

“I wanted to talk with him,” he said vaguely. Not that it was any of their business, but he wasn’t so stupid as to tell them that. For some reason, he felt like during an interrogation. What the hell was wrong with this guy? The other two seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, glancing at each other, but they didn’t say anything.

The rude guy huffed.

“Well, what does he look like?” Usopp described Luffy to him while the guy was tapping his fingers on his thick arm, as if he hadn’t just asked for that information. “Well, I’ve never seen him. Guess you have to look somewhere else.”

“Okay, thanks.”

He was glad to leave them behind. For some reason, the guy had left an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He couldn’t exactly place why. Maybe it was just his dislike of guardians in general. Most of them were violent brutes, not caring for anyone else besides themselves. Zoro and Luffy were the only exceptions he knew. They had their hearts in the right place.

He asked around some more, but no one seemed to have seen Luffy. He couldn’t tell if they were telling the truth or not, but it didn’t matter. It had gotten dark by now and he felt tired to his bones. It would be dangerous to fly around in such unfamiliar terrain, so as he approached the last group of people, his question was a different one.

“Do you know some place to sleep?” he asked them and they directed him to an inn. It was crouched underneath a broken off arch, so inconspicuous that he would have overlooked it if the women hadn’t pointed with a finger at it.

“It’s the only one on this island,” she said. “Most people don’t spend the night here.”

As Usopp entered, warmth and the delicious smell of food greeted him. It was more crowded here than outside, gaggles of young men and a few women sitting around the low tables, their legs kept warm beneath thick tablecloths. The air was heavy with the smell of food, the lights low but sufficient to make out the bar at the side of the room. He didn’t have anything on him to pay for the services, but he hoped he could trade a night and some food for his repairing services.

He cut his way through the crowd and tried to get the barkeeper’s attention. She was a young thing, her blond hair reminding him of Kaya’s. She hurried around the counter, occasionally stirring in the giant pot in the corner, until she finally turned around to him.

“Yes? What can I do for you?”

“Hello.” Usopp smiled at her. “I was wondering if you needed something to be repaired? I’d like to trade it with a place to sleep and maybe something of that delicious stew you’re brewing.”

She blushed. He jerked back – only slightly, mind you, but still – because why did she do that? Had he said something wrong? Already, there was an apology on the tip of his tongue, but then she smiled back and nodded.

“The heater has broken down last week. If you could repair that, it would be a huge help.”

Usopp smoothed his hair down, even though it directly sprung back.

“Sure, I can do that. Mind showing me?”

“I’ll ask if it’s okay. Just wait a minute.”

She went through the backdoor. Usopp propped his elbows up on the counter and let his gaze wander around the room. It was more lively here than outside, as food and drink was provided. Now that he thought back on it, maybe the people outside were just like him, without means to afford the inn. Maybe they just didn’t want to get home yet. He had half hoped that Luffy was here, but he couldn’t make him out in the crowd. Surely he would have already noticed his voice, as loud as it usually was.

He also noticed that there were way more men than women in the inn. Most of the women seemed young, their hair long and wings glimmering as if they took special care of them. With a start, he realized what kind of occupation they probably had. His face warmed.

Just in that moment, the young girl reappeared.

“You’re allowed in the back. You can sleep and eat here if you can repair the heater.”

Usopp nodded.

“Thanks, I’ll just-”

Suddenly, the table next to him crashed against the wall. Usopp jerked back, his eyes wide. The three men who had previously sat there had sprung up, their wings bristling as they glared at a red-haired woman. She was grinning, her head held high as she held her hand out.

“Don’t be a sore loser now,” she taunted. “You knew the rules and accepted them. Now hand it over!”

“Fuck you! You cheated!” the man growled. She didn’t even flinch as he swung his fist at her, but ducked, her plaited hair following her movement in a swift arch as she slid over the ground and kicked his legs away. He had a spear strapped to his back, but it was too long to be wielded here. “You bitch!” the man shouted.

His friends tried to catch her, but she was too fast as she wound her way through them. With a swift motion, she had undone their belts which fell clattering to the floor. One of them tried to get a kick at her, but she easily evaded, stepped behind him and shoved him hard in the back, so that he stumbled straight into Usopp. Together, they crashed to the ground. An elbow ground into Usopp’s stomach and he gasped for air, but then the guy was yanked off him and shoved into the bar, head hitting the edge of it and leaving a dent. Usopp pressed his back against the bar, shuffling away quickly.

What the hell?

The man tried to hit her again, but instead she grabbed his arm, pulled hard and jumped behind him, yanked his arm behind his back and pushed it up against the spear strapped to his back. The man screamed.

“You should just have told me to go easy on you,” she told him. Her reddish wings bristled proudly. His comrades were gaping at her. “I didn’t know I was dealing with fledglings.”

Usopp shuffled away from them as inconspicuously as he could. The table was lying broken in the corner, the tablecloth ripped, but none of the other residents paid them much mind – here and there, one of them glanced at the scuffle, but other than that, everyone ignored them. One of the guy’s friends made a step forward, but the redhead only pushed his arm higher, making him howl with pain.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. I’m sure he needs his arm. So, here’s the deal,” the redhead continued, her grin spreading wider, “you give me that spear you promised me and I won’t tell anyone how you almost shitted your pants.”

“I can’t give you that! I need it!”

“You should have thought of that when you bet against me.”

“Just give it to her,” one of his friends urged, “and let’s get out of here.”

The man gritted his teeth, but the woman’s grip was unrelenting.

“Fuck you,” he pressed out. “Just take it and fuck off.”

She grinned, then pulled the spear from its holster.

“My, that’s good work on this weapon. You kept it in excellent condition. I’ll get a decent price for that.” She released him, eyes still alert. There was no telling if the three men wouldn’t try to attack her again, but instead, they shuffled out of the inn as fast as they could while still maintaining a part of their dignity.

“Ah, they never learn,” the barkeeper said. “Betting against Nami is never a good idea. She’s not even cheating, she’s just that good.”

“But that was a high risk she took, three against one.”

“Those guardians probably thought the same,” she said and laughed. Usopp pulled himself up, glancing at the redhead. Suddenly, their eyes met. Usopp hurried to look away, but she was already stepping up next to him, propping her arms up on the counter.

“Wanna drink something?” the barkeeper girl asked. The redhead ignored her.

“Are you alright?” she asked Usopp with startling green eyes. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Like a fish, he opened and closed it several times, possibly looking like an idiot. The redhead rolled her eyes and turned to the girl: “Okay, I guess I’ll take a beer or two.”

“I’m fine,” Usopp finally wheezed. The redhead eyed him critically.

“You sure? Does your voice always sound like that? You should get that checked out.”

“No,” he squeaked, then cleared his throat. “I mean – no. It doesn’t. Usually. So, um, I’m fine.”

“Glad to hear that. I didn’t want you to get involved in the fight. But, you know how it is, bar fights get messy sometimes.”

Usopp nodded, even though he had zero experience in bar fights.

“So, what’s your name? You’re not from here, are you?”

“Usopp. That’s my name. Well, you’ve probably guessed that. Man, I’m talking nonsense again, aren’t I?”

“You do.” She smiled. In the half dim light, it seemed almost predatory. “But there are worse things than that.”

The barkeeper shoved a glass of beer in their direction. She had a frown on her face. Maybe she was upset about the dent in the bar.

“But you’re right.” Usopp sighed, ruffling his aching wings. “I’m from the island this one is flying to. I’m searching for a friend.”

She didn’t respond to that, but took a deep drink of her beer instead. Usopp waited for her to say something, but after a while her silence felt uncomfortable.

“Have you maybe seen someone with black hair and a scar right here?” He pointed at his cheek. “He’s really loud, so it’s hard to miss him.”

She scoffed, drinking the rest of the beer.

“I’ll tell you something, boy,” she said. “There’s no thing like free information. I guess you’ve asked around? Even if someone has seen your friend, they won’t tell you if they won’t get anything out of it.”

Usopp pulled his eyebrows together.

“Seriously? But they didn’t even ask me for anything in return.”

“That’s because you don’t look like you have anything valuable to offer.”

Usopp was taken aback. Was she seriously implying that he had wasted the last few hours asking around for Luffy? But how else should he learn where he was? He couldn’t fly around all day in the hope of finding him eventually.

“I don’t know where your friend is, either,” she continued, grabbing yet another beer and gulping it down. “Of course you won’t know if that’s the truth or if you could trade me something to loosen my tongue.”

“I don’t have anything on me.” Usopp splayed his hands out.

“I know.”

“But I’m pretty good at repairing things. Be it machines or small household items, weapons or your favorite hair clip, I’m the right man for the job!” he boasted and pointed his thumb at his chest. The redhead set her glass down. It was already empty again.

“That is a valuable skill.”

“Oh, um, thank you?” Usopp scratched his head. It was rare for someone to compliment him. “So, is there something you need to be repaired?”

She shook her head, her braid flinging from left to right.

“No, thank you. I already have anything I need,” she said and glanced at the spear which now was strapped to her own back. Usopp gulped.

“That was a pretty impressive fight back there.”

“Oh, that was nothing. Those dumb guys probably thought I’d be as impressed by their card tricks as the other girls here, but,” she grinned, showing her teeth, “I’ve some tricks of my own.”

Usopp felt a shiver run down his neck.

“Yeah. I could see that.”

“So, why are you searching for your friend? Did he steal something from you?” she asked, curiosity softening her voice.

“No, no, nothing like that!” Usopp waved his hands. “Actually, I’m searching for him because I worry about another friend. A mutual friend, you know? He – he seems to be missing.”

Her eyes widen. “Missing?”

“I mean, he’s a guardian and all – they both are – so I really shouldn’t worry so much, right? He can look after himself. He’s strong. Like, ridiculously strong.” Usopp sighed, raking a hand through his frizzy hair. “But it’s not like him to vanish like that. He’d at least send me a note or something. But there’s nothing. I can’t help but feel that there’s something off.”

The redhead tapped a finger against her chin.

“You’re right, it does sound off,” she said after a while. She glanced up at him. “Tell you what. I think I have a really hazy memory of a guy flying to the basins. I think he might look like your friend.”

Usopp’s eyes widened.

“Really? You’ve seen Luffy?”

“I’m not sure, the memory is hazy, as I said.” She picked up another beer, gulped it down and slammed the empty glass back on the counter. “It was nice talking to you. I have to go now – maybe the guardian wants to have his spear back now and is willing to trade me something nice for it.”

She got up, fastening the spear properly on her back. Usopp scrunched up his eyebrows.

“But I didn’t even give you something for your tip!”

She grinned.

“Oh, believe me. You did enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on [tumblr (@rejah91)](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rejah91)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are growing closer both above and beneath the clouds.

Usopp spent the night in a cramped den, surrounded by half a dozen other guests. When he got up at the first light, he had barely more than two hours of sleep, a result of the excessive snoring of two of his bed neighbors and the worry about what this day would bring. He got something to drink and eat and then waved the innkeeper goodbye. Part of him wondered if he would’ve had a chance with her. She had seemed nice. Maybe even too nice for the place she was working in, but that was water down the river. At least for now, he had more important things to do, namely finding Luffy.

Nami hadn’t said much except that she had seen Luffy at the basins. He had no idea where those where and if Luffy would even still be there when he arrived. His wings were still sore from the long flight yesterday. But he had no other choice than to propel himself into the air in the hope of catching a glimpse of the basins she had been speaking of.

He grunted as he pushed himself off the ground. It hurt, but he could push through it. When he was home again, he would soak in the hot water at their island’s basin for a while. That would soothe his sore muscles.

The wind was pulling hard at his wings again and he pushed his goggles down his nose to protect his eyes from the sting of the wind. The cliffs seemed even sharper in the broad daylight. He could easily hurt himself if he crashed down on them. A shudder ran through him as he thought back to last night – he had landed here, in the half-dark, exhausted and barely thinking straight. He was lucky that he hadn’t hurt himself.

Even though things usually tended not to go his way, today he found himself in luck. He glimpsed water glistening a few meters beneath him. There it was, a deep basin, judging by its dark blue color, surrounded by jagged rocks which bent over as if they were the fingers of a mighty hand, grasping for the people who were mindlessly splashing water at each other. He spotted dark hair and immediately dove down.

The landing was a lot smoother this time than it had been the night before. The gravel crunched beneath his shoes as he landed on the edge of the basin, causing the people to look up and notice him.

“Usopp!” Luffy instantly recognized him. “Whatcha doing here? Wanted to have some fun, too?”

Luffy was wet from head to toe. Not surprising, as he loved the water. Also not so surprising was the fact that he had one young girl hanging off each of his arms and some other boys and girls staying close to him. He was a people’s magnet. Fun, charismatic, attractive. Usopp scratched his nose.

“Not really.” He took care that he didn’t slip off the wet rocks and sat down. “I have some news about Zoro.”

Luffy was still treading water, when he asked, “So has he reappeared?”

Usopp shook his head.

“No. That’s the problem. It’s been four days. And – Law has been acting weird.“

Luffy snorted.

“He’s always weird. Always so serious.” He said it like it was something leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

Usopp didn’t know what to do anymore. If he was honest, he had only a hunch that something wasn’t right and he’d only flown here to have someone to talk to – and to take action. What could he, a mere repairer of bows and trinkets, do?

But now Luffy did surprise him. He shook off the two girls, who pouted and then glared at Usopp, and swam over. There was still the trace of a smile on Luffy’s face as he lifted himself out of the water and sat down next to him with a wet splash.

“You flew all the way here just to tell me you’re still worried? I’d be an asshole not to listen to you.”

Usopp breathed out.

“Thanks.” He glanced at the other people still swimming in the basin. “Can we talk, like, somewhere else?”

“Sure.”

Luffy heaved himself out of the water and ruffled his wings. He picked up his clothes, uncaring about the harsh wind giving him goosebumps all over his naked skin. Usopp fidgeted while waiting.

Meanwhile, it began to rain. Luffy didn’t seem to care – he was drenched anyway – but Usopp wasn’t as indifferent to the cold and slung his arms around himself. He’d always been susceptible to colds.

Luffy clapped him on the shoulder.

“Okay, let’s go.”

They didn’t go far. Luffy lead him to a cave, barely enough to shelter them from the on-pouring rain. They huddled close, Usopp leeching off the warmth of Luffy’s body.

“I just don’t know what to do anymore,” Usopp said, when Luffy stayed silent. “He’s been gone for four days now. That isn’t like him. And-” He halts, not sure how to proceed. He wasn’t sure if he should take about his meeting with Law. But it wasn’t like it was a secret, wasn’t it? Several guardians had seen them. If he didn’t tell Luffy about the device Law gave him he should be fine. “I tried to ask Law. He seemed – evasive. Didn’t want to answer me.”

“What did he say?” Luffy blinked the water out of his eyes.

“That I shouldn’t stick my nose into things I have no business with.”

“Mean.” Usopp was still shivering. The night had taken his tolls on him; he wouldn’t be surprised if he would be ill soon. Luffy slung an arm around him. “So you think he’s hiding something? But why would he?”

“I have no idea.”

As far as he knew, Zoro and Law got on well. There were only two possible solutions – either Zoro was on some kind of secret mission and didn’t want an outsider like Usopp to know about it – but wouldn’t Zoro have warned him in that case? Zoro hated to lie, not only because he was bad at it, but also because of his moral stance. In any case, Usopp would have sensed something was off. The other option was Law didn’t know where Zoro was. Somehow, that possibility was more terrifying than the other; if Law wasn’t aware of Zoro whereabouts, then no one was.

The tight knot in his stomach dropped like lead.

“Tell you what,” Luffy interrupted his thoughts, “I’ll help you. I know a lot of people on this island, maybe they’ve seen something. Maybe Zoro’s just had a few wild nights over here and hasn’t laid off the booze enough to fly home.”

It was meant to cheer him up, but Usopp didn’t manage more than a quick quirk of his mouth.

“Even Zoro wouldn’t do that for four days straight,” he said.

“Who knows?” Luffy grinned at him. “They’ve partied a fucking lot for the last few weeks. New leader, ya know? Has beaten the old one like it’s nothing.”

It was still a long shot. Usopp didn’t believe in it one second.

“You should fly back. In case he comes back. Yeah? I’ll tell you as soon as I know something.” Luffy squeezed him tighter. “And remember: Zoro’s strong. Whatever happened, he’ll fight his way out.”

* * *

Usopp was a shivering mess when he set off to fly back. It was only midday and the best time to fly. He had plenty of sight this time. At least the rain had stopped, the wet cliffs beneath him glinting in the sun.

He didn’t come far, though. He hadn’t even left the island behind as he saw a familiar redhead flying past him.

“Hey!” he called after her. She turned.

He had been right; it was the girl whom he had met last night. She was carrying a bundle which was attached to her torso with several straps. It looked heavy. She watched him as he flew closer.

“Hello there,” she greeted him. Usopp tried to recall her name. She hadn’t introduced herself, but if he remembered correctly, the barkeeper had called her Nami.

“Hey,” he said again, then winced inwardly. “Um – where are you flying to?”

“We’ve just met and you’re already drilling me with questions again.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to, I-”

Nami laughed.

“No reason to be so shy.” She grinned at him. “So, where are you flying to?”

“My home island.”

“So you’ve found your friend.” Usopp nodded. They were flying side by side now. Nami didn’t seem to have a problem to keep up with him, even with her luggage. “Was he able to help you?”

Usopp gnawed on his lip.

“Not really. He’s searching now. I’m – I’m flying back to wait for him.” Useless. He couldn’t do a single thing. Luffy was the one who had friends on that island, the people person he was, tightly knotted in a net of social contacts. Usopp could do nothing except wait and hope for his friend to fix the problem.

Nami didn’t question him any further. Usopp hadn’t expected much when he had recognized her - they didn’t know each other, after all. She probably had her own stuff to deal with.  
She had to be really strong to be able to carry around that much and not even slowing down. Usopp wanted to help her, but the trip was hard enough on him as it was.

“So, are you flying there for trading?” he asked dumbly. Of course she was. Nami smirked at him.

“Again with the questions. And that one you can answer yourself, can’t you? So why even ask?”

“I - I don’t know. Just thought it’d be weird not to say anything.”

“Then tell me something interesting. About you, for example. Or is your life that boring?” She lifted an eyebrow, grinning at him. Her hair was glinting in the sun like fire.

Usopp’s feathers bristled.

“I’m, well, I’m not sure if you’d find it interesting,” he falters. There wasn’t much going on in his life, was there? Luffy and Zoro were the more interesting people, being guardians, fighting for their island if the need arose. Or getting in trouble if they could. Usopp himself? He was just a tag-along. “I’m, well. I’m someone who repairs stuff. But you probably already knew that. Mostly, I repair bows and such for the guardians, or household items. Anything I can get my hands on, really.”

“And that is enough for you?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Usopp blinked more rapidly. He knew people didn’t care about why something was working. They just wanted it to work. “I’m working on something else, too. I call it the glider.” He glanced to Nami to gauge her reaction. She was still smiling and seemingly listening intently. Well, here went nothing. “It’s, well, it’s for flying. You’re probably thinking, why would he build something like that, right?” He laughed, a bit weakly, but carried on. His wings were already straining at they had a long way ahead. “I’m not doing it for myself, if that’s what you’re thinking, even though I’m not that good at flying. I can do enough on my own. It’s - for my friend.”

He gulped. He had told Zoro and Luffy about his intentions, but they had remained sceptical. No one had ever seen something of that size to be able to fly - at least not something man made. There were their people, of course, and the flying whales and the birds in the sky. But neither the humans on the ground nor the Vaengur had managed to imitate the gift nature had bestowed on them.

He was a laughing stock for even trying.

“What about your friend?” Nami was flying closer to him. Sweat had gathered on the back of her neck and the straps of her package were digging into her body, but she was still going strong. Usopp stared straight ahead when he answered. Never at the ground. Never.

“She can’t. She can’t fly. She has been ill for a while now and I - I just want to see her happy.” Fuck, talking about her always hurt him. But he couldn’t seem to stop.

Nami smiled at him.

“I see. That’s really sweet of you.”

Usopp gaped at her.

“You think so?”

“Of course!” Nami nodded. “Most people would probably have given up on her, but you’re still trying. That’s tenacity!”

Usopp didn’t know what to say. Even his friends hadn’t encouraged him that much - and now this stranger was telling him such kind words. She hadn’t a reason to sweet talk him either, she could probably fly faster without his company and they wouldn’t see each other for months as soon as their islands drifted past each other.

He nodded, not trusting his weak voice to carry over the wind.

They parted a few hours later. Nami brushed her hair back in a plait and picked up her bundle.

“Good luck,” she told him. Then she went.

Usopp stared at her retreating form until he remembered he had someone to go to.

* * *

“Does this hurt?”

Sanji applied the salve with careful fingers. It smelled stingy, too chemical for his liking, but Zoro didn’t even flinch anymore whenever Sanji smeared it on his wing. The feathers clotted together where the salve touched them and Sanji smoothed them out.

“No,” Zoro grunted. He was sitting cross-legged between the couch and the coffee table, his injured wing spread out over Sanji who was sitting on the couch behind him. “Not anymore.”

“That’s good, then,” Sanji said. “Maybe you’ll be able to fly soon.”

He would finally be out of his hair then. Zoro just shrugged his shoulders. It wasn’t out of indifference, Sanji knew. It was just that after something like two weeks, Zoro had not only grown restless, but also morose. He spent his days lying on the couch or looking out of the window, barely moving. The only times Sanji was able to irk him was when he called him stupid names. But even those hardly got a reaction out of him anymore.

“What’s it like?” Sanji finished applying the salve and screwed the bottle shut, then threw it somewhere behind him. The place was a mess right now, so he didn’t care. “You know, your home? You have friends up there?”

Zoro tilted his head slightly towards him, but not enough to meet his eyes.

“I do.”

“Wow, so talkative. Tell me more,” Sanji deadpanned. His hands were still on the wing, lying motionless. Zoro’s feathers were softer than they looked like.

“I have a lot of friends. Few close ones.”

“Hm. Do you think they’re worried about you?”

Zoro shrugged his shoulders. Sanji huffed. If Zoro didn’t want to talk, then so be it. They could just continue these mono-syllabic conversations until he would get out of here. He didn’t even know why he even tried to talk to him - as much as he looked like a human being, Zoro wasn’t one. He was currently mending his fricking wing, for God’s sake! Why was it so hard to remember that he wasn’t the same, wouldn’t ever be the same as him?

He gripped the wing a little harder and Zoro twitched and asked, “Why are you angry?”

“I’m not-” Sanji halted. He knew Zoro hated it when he lied and would also see right through him. “It’s nothing,” Sanji muttered. Maybe he should change the topic. “So - um - what do you miss the most?”

Zoro glanced to the side. He didn’t answer for a few long moments and Sanji studied his face, familiar after all this time. The downy feathers framing his face were no longer alien to him. He looked so close to human.

“The wind,” Zoro said finally. “Being able to let it carry me anywhere. Being fast and strong. Being useful.”

Sanji shifted in his seat. The wing on his legs felt warm, heat trapped beneath it.

“What about your friends?”

“It’s not safe. I have to fly up soon.”

He had no idea what that meant. Why weren’t they safe? Zoro still hadn’t told him much about why he had fallen down from the sky, but Sanji had also not asked. What did he care, anyway? When Zoro finally left, he wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.

“And, um, do you have someone else? You know, someone special?”

Zoro shook his head.

“Don’t have time,” he muttered. “Have to become stronger.”

Sanji rolled his eyes. Of course. Zoro was some kind of warrior, so it was no wonder he was focussed on his strength instead of his brain. He pitied the poor girl who would end up with him.

“There.” He patted Zoro’s wing one last time, then set it down on the couch. “How does it feel?”

Instead of answering, Zoro unfurled his wing until it had reached his entire span. The feathers were glossy where Sanji had applied the salve.

“Feels fine.”

Sanji breathed a sigh of relief.

That meant he would soon be out of his hair. He would have one eater less and could finally get back to his life - he wouldn’t have to lie to Pudding anymore and could get back to studying without this weird dude breathing down his neck and asking a thousand questions.

But why felt his chest to tight?

“Great! So, what do you think, should I get the car over the weekend? You could try flying up again.”

Zoro’s face lit up. He looked ridiculously happy. Sanji swallowed and fixed his gaze on the table.

Soon, his life would return back to normal.

* * *

Sanji had lent Pudding’s car again, a Mercedes with a nice white interior and rose highlights. It fit her perfectly and part of him felt guilty about keeping a secret from her for nearly two weeks. It felt easier, too. He was gnawing on his lip while his hands were gripping the steering wheel. Zoro was sitting next to him, the same blanket over his shoulders as before. His fingers were tapping on the car’s window, following one of the raindrops which ran down the glass. Sanji cursed. As soon as Zoro had noticed that his wings were healed enough to fly, he was getting on his nerves until Sanji had dialed Pudding’s number and asked her for her car. Again. She wanted to know why, he had fed her another lie and an hour later, her chauffeur had delivered it to him.

Shit. He was in this way too deep.

He glanced to the side. On the outside, Zoro seemed calm, not even looking curious anymore now that this was his second trip, but the window-tapping gave him away.

“Don’t worry,” Sanji said quietly. He hadn’t started the engine yet. “I’m sure you’ll be able to fly.”

Zoro glanced at him, but kept quiet. Well, it seemed he wasn’t in the mood to talk then.

Sanji started the engine. The windshield wiper began to move automatically and the squeaking somewhat filled the silence. Damn, had it really been nearly two weeks since this guy had fallen from the sky? He began to drive on the street and turned left. What was he supposed to do now? He’d drop Zoro off on the field, maybe watch him fly off, that wasn’t something he wanted to miss. Few people saw the winged ones anyway, so he felt like it was a privilege to see him off properly.

He had work tomorrow. How should he go back to that? It wasn’t easy to forget something like this, but he had also forgotten other things, built his life with Pudding. He could do it again. He indicated another turn.

Even though he didn’t drive fast at all, their destination came into sight way too soon. It was early evening and the sun had just began to set. Zoro got out of the car and shed the blanket as soon as he was sure that they were alone on the field. The reddish light painted his feathers a strange color, as if dirtied by blood. Sanji blinked. It brought uncomfortable memories to the surface.

He didn’t bother to lock the car. Instantly, his feet sank into the muddy field and he grimaced. Well, it wasn’t like his shoes were anything to call home for, but Pudding would kill him if he got any of that mud in her squeaky clean car. Zoro didn’t have any shoes. His feet were already black as he walked a few meters over the field, his face tilted to the sky. It was still pouring. Zoro’s wings were drenched in a matter of seconds and it seemed as if they were made out of porcelain, something fragile and beautiful about them. Sanji swallowed.

He walked up to Zoro until their shoulders brushed. He should have brought an umbrella, but even though they had planned this moment for the entirety of the afternoon, it felt rushed. He wasn’t ready.

“I wanted to say thank you.” Zoro turned around to him. His eyes were sincere. “You didn’t need to help me, but you did. I won’t forget that.”

“It’s nothing.” It was too much to hold that gaze and Sanji looked down at their feet standing so near to each other. Zoro looked so different, but also the same. “I guess we won’t see each other again, right?”

“It doesn’t matter if we do.” Zoro laid his hand on the junction of his shoulder with his neck. His skin was warm. He reached behind himself and in a quick motion, plucked a single feather out of the upper layers of his wings. Then he took Sanji’s hand and laid the feather into his palm. “I’ll always remember you. Even if we don’t see each other again, our memories won’t be any less valuable.”

Before Sanji could answer, Zoro had turned around again and faced the sky. A part of him was glad because his chest felt tight and he blinked through the rain as Zoro spread his wings. He waited a moment, as if collecting his strength, and then suddenly he pushed off, mud splashing from where he stood, and Sanji craned his neck to watch him.

And then one thought rushed through him and he felt it in his bones: He looked beautiful. Strong, powerful. There wasn’t any wasted movement in his flight; each up and down of them was full of intent.

A shot ripped over the field. Sanji flinched and instantly jumped behind the car to take cover. Zoro was falling. There was another car fast approaching, he hadn’t heard it. It must have been the rain, or maybe he had been too occupied with Zoro.

Fuck, Zoro. Was he hurt? Would his wing be injured again? He didn’t dare to come out of his hiding place. The cars had already arrived and he cowered further behind Pudding’s car. He couldn’t see much from his position. His shoes were slowly sinking into the mud. Now he could hear voices and he flinched; they were already nearer than he thought.

“I told you to shoot sooner! I won’t take the guilt if he’s injured,” he heard one of the men say.

“Shut up, alright? I did what I could. But he’s a fast motherfucker!”

“Well, not so fast now, right?”

They laughed. Icy rain trickled down Sanji’s neck.

“There was another one. Where’s he hiding?”

Sanji pressed a hand against his mouth to stifle a gasp. Fuck, they had seen him. It was so cold that you could see his breath in the air and he tried to breathe into his jacket. Why didn’t Zoro say anything? He wouldn’t go down with a fight, would he?

“Wow, he’s lighter than I thought.” He could hear the squelching of their boots. “Let’s get the other one. He can’t have run off far, I bet he’s hiding behind that car.”

Sanji stiffened.

“Hey, where are you? No use in hiding!” the other man called. Did he come from the left or the right? “Come out, then we won’t have to hurt you.”

Sanji swallowed and shut his eyes tight for a moment.

Then he dashed from the car.

Another shot ripped through the air and he yelped, one of his feet getting stuck in the mud and he fell flat down. No pain, that meant they hadn’t hit him, right? He scrambled up, his hands slipping, and tried to run away, but then one of them grabbed his arm and pushed him down again. The air was pressed out of his lungs as the man sat down on his back and pushed his head down. Sanji inhaled mud and retched, thrashing around.

“Hold still, you fucker!”

“Don’t-”

He cried out as his assaulter pushed his arm up his back and instantly went still. He didn’t want his shoulder to get dislocated.

“That’s right.” The other guy appeared next to them. “You’re gonna be nice and silent or we’ll hit you with the same load we shot at your buddy here.”

Fuck. He probably meant a tranquilizer. Sanji was breathing hard and spat mud out.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Not any of your damn business.”

They bound his wrists behind his back and dragged him to their car. Sanji didn’t fight back anymore, but he didn’t work with them either. He felt as if he needed to throw up, his stomach curling. They pushed him into the back of the car. The fabric of the backseat was gray with age. He curled in on himself. Fuck, his arm still hurt, but he couldn’t move too well. Suddenly, the guy who had thrown him into the mud leaned over him and Sanji pressed himself into the back of the seat, shivers running over him. Something clacked. With a start, he realized that he’d only just buckled him in. Hah, as if he was actually concerned for his safety.

He nearly had to laugh as they opened trunk of one of them and heaved Zoro inside. This all seemed to be like in a bad movie. Where were they taking them? Who were they working for? The trunk was closed and the guys got into the car again and one of them turned around to him. Sanji stiffened.

“Just so you know – even if we aren’t allowed to kill you, it doesn’t mean that we can’t hurt you.”

“Keep it down, you idiot,” the other guy said as he started the car. “He doesn’t need to know anything.”

Sanji laid his forehead against the cold window and pressed his eyes close. The car began to bump over the field, wheels splashing the mud upwards.

* * *

The drive was quiet safe for their threats. Sanji got the impression that the guy on the co-driver’s seat had taken a sickening liking to taunting him. He had reddish hair, so Sanji nicknamed him Ginger. He wasn’t sure if Ginger would go through with his threats, though, but to be safe he kept quiet. There was no sign of Zoro trying to escape, not when they drove back from the countryside, not when they lined into traffic.

It was already dark by now. He could try to make an escape. But how far would he get? He glanced to the door handle. It was locked. His eyes burnt, but he refused to give in, even though his heart was still racing and his hands felt clammy and numb behind his back. He tried to guess where they were, but he wasn’t actually too familiar with the city’s outline. His days consisted of hopping on and off the bus, with few detours in between. When Pudding and him got on a date, they usually took her car to drive to their destination. This area didn’t look familiar at all.

They halted at a red light.

A few seconds later, a handful of pedestrians walked over the street, each of them immersed in their own life. Maybe he should try to get attention – if he knocked on the window, if he screamed for help, surely someone would call the police?

Ginger turned around to him.

“You think I don’t know what’s going on in your little head?” He grinned. “If I were you, I’d think twice before trying anything.”

There were a lot of questions lying on his tongue, but Sanji didn’t ask any of them. It was futile anyway. The other guy was silent for their whole trip. Every time their eyes met in the rear-view mirror, a shiver ran down Sanji’s back. He had an inkling he was the more dangerous one.

After what seemed like hours, they finally drove through a gate crusted with rust. Sanji craned his neck to read the sign next to it, but then they already had passed it and he huddled in on himself to keep warm. He was still drenched from the rain. Of course, his kidnappers hadn’t bothered to give him something dry to wear. Soon, they pulled up in front of what seemed to be an old warehouse and Sanji’s stomach flipped. This didn’t bode well at all.

The motor stopped and Ginger turned around to him. He grinned nastily.

“I hope you’re gonna try and run, boy. I’d like to catch you again.”

Sanji gritted his teeth. Ginger’s grin vanished, obviously he had hoped for another reaction. He stepped out and opened Sanji’s door. Before Sanji had any chance to react, he grabbed the metal chain between his cuffs and pulled him out, making him stumble and fall to his knees on the pavement. The other guy was busy opening the trunk. Sanji breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Zoro up close. His eyes were half opened, but glazed over. It was clear that he was still mostly out of it because of whatever shit they had shot him with.

They steered them to a door which Sanji hadn’t seen before. The feeling of dread in his stomach deepened. If they hadn’t said that they didn’t want to kill him earlier, he would definitely have thought so – but the thought of what else they had in mind didn’t calm him in the slightest.

There was a long corridor behind the door from which several others corridors branched off. Ginger had his arm in a death grip, dangerous guy was half carrying, half dragging Zoro along. Suddenly, Ginger turned left and the other guy went straight ahead. Sanji stopped in his tracks.

“Wait, where is he-”

“Keep moving, or should I break your arm for you?” Ginger pushed him further along, but Sanji resisted, stemming his feet against the floor.

“No! Where are you taking him? Let me go!”

“As if I’m gonna do that.”

To his dismal, Ginger was much stronger than him. Sanji still put up a fight, pushing his entire weight against him, but then his feet were suddenly kicked out under him and his chain was grabbed. He gasped with pain as his arms were pulled away from his back, the strain nearly unbearable, and he had no choice other than to move along with his captor. He lost count of how many turns they took or how many doors they passed, his arms felt like being ripped off and it took all he had to keep up with him.

Finally, the pain stopped. They had arrived at another door which looked exactly the same as the ones they had passed previously and Ginger pulled out a key and opened it. Sanji looked up at him. He had never felt this weak in his life.

“Please don’t hurt Zoro,” he whispered. Ginger opened the door and shoved him into the room.

“That’s not my decision.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens >:3 Please consider leaving a comment!


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